lEx  ICthrtB 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


When  you  leave,  please  leave  this  hook 

Because  it  has  heen  said 
"Ever  thing  comes  t'  him  who  waits 

Except  a  loaned  hook." 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
(mi  r  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


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in  2014 


A 


I 


http://archive.org/details/tohonorablesenatOOnewy 


TO  THE  HONORABLE  THE  SENATE  OF  THE 
STATE  OF  NEW  YORK: 

The  Board  of  Commissioners  of  the  Central  Park,  in  re- 
sponse to  the  request  contained  in  the  following  preamble  and 
resolutions,  adopted  by  the  Senate  on  the  3d  instant,  viz. : 

Whereas,  the  Commissioners  of  the  Central  Park,  having 
applied  to  the  Legislature  for  the  sum  of  Five  Millions  of  Dol- 
lars, for  the  laying  out,  regulation  and  government  of  the  Park; 
namely,  two  and  a  half  millions  for  the  laying  out,  and  two  and 
a  half  millions  for  the  care  and  government  of  the  Park,  or  the 
annual  interest  on  that  sum,  being  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars  per  annum,  in  addition  to  the  sum  of  two  millions 
of  dollars  heretofore  appropriated  by  the  Legislature  for  those 
purposes  ;  and  the  act  of  the  Legislature,  passed  17th  April, 
1S57,  page  7M,  under  which  said  commission  was  organized, 
having  provided  l<  that  no  plan  for  the  laying  out,  regulation, 
or  government  of  said  Park  shall  be  adopted  or  undertaken  by 
the  Commissioners,  of  which  the  entire  expense,  when  funded, 
shall  require  for  the  paying  of  the  annual  interest  thereon  a 
greater  sum  than  §100,000  per  annum,"  that  is  to  say,  a  funded 
debt  of  one  million  six  hundred  and  sixty-six  thousand  six  hun- 
dred and  sixtj^-six  dollars,  which  amount  was  increased  by  the 
act  of  15th  April,  1859,  page  857,  to  two  millions  of  dollars,  but 
with  the  like  limitation  ;  therefore 

litsolved,  That  the  Commissioners  of  the  Central  Park  are  re- 
quested to  report  to  the  Senate  their  answers  to  the  following 
interrogatories  : 

1.  What  reasons  for  having  adopted  and  undertaken  a  plan 
for  the  Park,  the  execution  of  which  exceeds  the  limitations  of 
the  Legislature,  by  the  Act  of  1857  ? 

2.  What  reasons  for  having  persevered  in  undertaking  the 
execution  of  the  same  plan  after  the  passage  of  the  Act  of 
'1859? 

3.  The  names  of  the  Commissioners  voting  in  favor  of  the 
adoption  of  that  plan  ? 


4.  The  names  of  the  Commissioners  voting  upon  the  questions 
of  doing  the  work  by  contract  or  by  days'  work  ? 

5.  The  items  of  the  plan  which  the  Board  has  resolved  to 
strike  out  or  omit  ? 

G.  How  much  money  has  been  expended  below  Seventy- 
ninth  street ;  or  how  much  below  Ninety-sixth  street;  how  much 
below  One  Hundred  and  Sixth  street;  and  the  number  of  acres 
in  each  section  belonging  to  the  Park  % 

7.  How  much  money  is  required  to  be  expended  in  each  sec- 
tion—stating the  items  of  expenditure  and  the  cost  of  each,  and 
which  of  the  items,  if  any,  are  essential,  and  which  of  them  are 
not  essential  ? 

8.  How  much  money  had  been  expended  to  18th  May,  1858, 
when  the  plan  was  adopted  ;  how  much  to  1st  January,  1S59; 
how  much  to  January  1st,  18G0  ? 

9.  What  amount  has  been  paid  for  drain-tile,  and  how  much 
thereof  has  been  laid  down  in  each  of  the  three  sections  of  the 
Park  before  mentioned  ? 

10.  What  are  the  names  of  the  persons  who  make  purchases 
for  the  Central  Park  ?  Are  the  persons  so  employed  connected 
with  any  firm  in  the  city  of  New  York ;  and  if  so,  what  firm, 
and  what  is  the  amount  annually  thus  expended  ] 

Respectfully  Refort  : 

The  act  creating  said  Board,  was  passed  the  17th  day  of 
April,  1857.  On  the  30th  of  the  same  month,  the  Board  pro- 
ceeded to  organize  under  its  provisions.  On  the  13th  day  of 
October,  1S57,  after  various  preliminary  measures,  preparatory 
to  the  commencement  of  their  work,  the  Board  determined  to 
offer,  by  public  advertisement,  premiums  for  the  four  designs 
for  laying  out  the  ground  of  the  Park,  which  should  be  chosen 
by  the  Board. 

It  was  required  of  competitors,  that  "  reference  should  be  had 
"  to  the  whole  amount  of  expenditure  allowed  by  the  Legisla- 
"  ture,  viz.,  about  $1,500,00  ;"  and  they  were  allowed  to  the 
1st  day  of  April,  1858,  to  hand  in  their  designs:  competitors 
for  the  prizes  were  required  to  "  embrace  with  the  report  of 
their  plans,  the  following,  with  other  particulars :  The 
fencing,  lighting,  draining,  irrigating,  grubbing,  trenching, 


3 


and  planting  the  grounds ;  the  filling  and  the  excavations  ; 
the  width  and  mode  of  building  the  several  roads  for  walking, 
driving,  and  riding,  and  the  cost  of  each  item  of  work  in  detail, 
with  full  and  sufficient  specifications  by  which  the  work  can 
be  done." 

After  an  exhibition  of  tho  plans  for  several  weeks,  in  order 
that  a  full  study  and  examination  of  their  respective  merits 
might  be  had  by  the  members  of  the  commission,  the  Board  on 
the  28th  of  April,  1858,  adopted  the  following  resolution : 

Resolved,  That  the  thirty-three  plans,  from  ]STo.  1  to  33,  now 
on  exhibition  for  the  proposed  improvement  of  the  Central 
Park,  are  regularly  before  us,  in  pursuance  of  the  proposals  of 
this  Board,  and  that  the  selection  of  the  four  premium  plans  be 
confined  to  the  same — 

By  the  following  vote  : 

Ayes — 'Messrs.  Dillon,  Russell,  Butterworth,  Gray,  Ilutchins, 
Green,  Elliott,  Strong,  Hogg,  Belmont — 10. 

Nay— Mr.  Fields. 

The  following  resolution  was  then  proposed  : 

Resolved,  That  in  the  examination  of  the  various  plans  for 
laying  out  the  Central  Park,  which  have  been  presented  for 
competition,  the  Commissioners  find  thorn  to  possess  various  de- 
grees of  merit; — with  original,  varied,  and  valuable  suggestions 
for  the  contemplated  object ;  some  of  them  are  of  a  high  order 
of  design,  with  beautiful  illustrations  of  objects  of  art  contem- 
plated in  the  future  embellishment  of  the  grounds.  But  the 
Commissioners  deem  it  proper  to  declare,  that  their  award  of 
the  offered  premiums  for  the  best  plans  does  not  in  any  respect 
commit  the  Board  to  the  carrying  out,  in  the  actual  construction 
of  the  work,  any  plan  or  plans  to  which  the  premiums  may  be 
awarded  ;  but  that  from  the  selected  designs  which  will  now  be- 
come the  property  of  the  Board,  the  Commissioners  are  at 
liberty,  in  the  actual  construction  of  the  work,  to  avail  them- 
selves of  such  variations  as  they  deem  to  be  expedient  as  the 
groundwork  of  their  future  operations,  leaving  various  and 
many  suggestions  for  the  improvement  and  embellishment  of 
the  Park  for  further  development  and  later  decisions. 

Which  resolution,  after  various  motions  to  strike  out,  substi- 
tute, &c.j  was  carried  by  the  following  vote  : 

Ayes — Messrs.  Russell,  Butterworth,  Gray,  Ilutchins,  Green, 
Elliott,  Strong,  Hogg,  Belmont — 9. 

Nays— Messrs.  Dillon,  Fields— 2, 


4 


A  further  resolution  was  then  adopted,  as  follows  : 

_  Resolved,  That  the  Clerk  call  the  roll,  and  that  each  Commis- 
sioner, as  his  name  is  called,  designate  the  number  of  the  plan 
he  votes  for,  for  the  first  prize. 

The  Board  proceeded  in  accordance  with  this  resolution,  and 
with  the  following  result  : 

Messrs.  Dillon,  30 ;  Russell,  33  ;  Butterworth,  33  ;  Gray,  33  ; 
Hutchins,  26;  Fields,  30;  Green,  33;  Elliott,  33  ;  Strong,  33; 
Hogg,  33  ;  Belmont,  30. 

For  No.  33,  7 ;  for  No.  30,  3  ;  for  No.  26,  1—11. 

To  plan  No.  33,  in  general  accordance  with  which  the  Park 
is  now  beiug  constructed,  was  therefore  awarded  the  first 
premium. 

A  copy  of  the  original  description  which  accompanied  this 
plan  is  annexed,  marked  "  Appendix  C." 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  held  on  the  lSth  May,  1S58, 
nearly  three  weeks  after  the  award  of  the  premiums,  the  follow- 
ing resolution  wa3  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  plan  No.  is  hereby  adopted  by  the 

Board  as  the  plan  for  the  Central  Park,  subject  to  such  modifi- 
cations as  may  be  from  time  to  time  ordered  by  this  Board. 

The  following  members  voting  in  the  affirmative : 

Ayes — Messrs.  Dillon,  Butterworth,  Gray,  Green,  Strong, 
Hogg— 6. 

And  a  motion  to  insert  "  No.  S3  "  in  the  blank,  was  adopted 
by  the  following  vote  ; 

Ayes — Messrs.  Russell,  Butterworth,  Gray,  Green,  Strong, 
Hogg — 6. 

Nay— Mr.  Dillon— 1. 

Absent — Messrs.  Hutchins,  Belmont,  and  Elliott. 

The  reasons  for  the  adoption  of  this  plan  were,  that  the  Board 
deemed  it  eminently  adapted  to  the  ground,  and  that  it 
seemed  to  comprehend,  in  a  far  greater  degree  than  any  other 
plan  presented,  provision  for  the  present  and  future  require- 
ments of  a  great  public  pleasure-ground,  while  at  the  same  time 
it  was  peculiarly  adjusted  to  the  prospective  exigencies  of 
commerce,  and  the  current  business  of  a  great  city. 


5 


The  plan  having  been  thus~adopted,  and  the  work  prosecuted 
for  nearly  twelve  months  in  accordance  therewith,  the  Board 
proceeded  with  it,  because  it  would,  in  1850,  have  been  waste- 
ful, destructive  to  the  beauty  of  the  Park,  and  exceedingly  un- 
wise, to  have  adopted  any  other  course,  and  to  have  pieced  out 
the  then  various  half  completed  structures  on  any  new  plan  ; 
and  further,  the  Board,  in  those  parts  of  the  work  that  were  then 
approaching  completion,  found  abundant  reason  for  satisfaction 
with  their  choice  of  plan,  and  had  been  fully  justified  in  this 
choice,  by  the  unbiassed  judgment  of  men  versed  in  all  the 
arts  combined  in  the  Park,  as  well  as  by  the  very  general  ap- 
probation of  the  public. 

These,  in  brief,  are  the  reasons  why  the  Commissioners 
adopted  the  plan  on  which  the  Park  is  being  constructed,  and 
why  they  have  persevered  after  the  passage  of  the  act  of  1859, 
in  the  execution  of  the  plan  so  adopted. 

These  reasons  furnish  the  response  of  the  Board,  to  the 
inquiries  of  the  Honorable  the  Senate.*  It  would  seem,  however, 
from  their  form,  taken  together  with  the  preamble,  that  these 
questions  are  propounded  under  the  impression  that  this  Board 
has  exceeded  the  limitations  of  the  Statute  of  1857,  and  with  the 
object  of  obtaining  from  this  Board  its  reasons  for  proposing  the 
expenditure  in  the  construction  of  the  Park,  of  a  sum  of  money 
greater  than  that  to  which  the  preamble  seems  to  assume  the 
Board  was  limited  by  the  law. 

Without  at  present  stopping  to  question  this  interpretation 
of  the  law  given  in  the  preamble  and  resolutions,  the  Board 
proceed  respectfully  to  offer  some  considerations  in  this  regard. 

The  section  of  the  law  of  1857,  incorporated  in  the  preamble, 
is  in  these  words  : 

"  No  plan  for  the  laying  out,  regulation  ancl  government  of 
said  Park  shall  be  adopted  or  undertaken  by  the  Commissioners, 
of  which  the  entire  expense  when  funded,  shall  require  for  the 
payment  of  the  annual  interest  thereon  a  greater  sum  than  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  per  annum.'3 

It  will  be  apparent  to  the  Honorable  the  Senate,  that  the 
Commissioners,  in  the  outset  of  their  undertaking,  proceeded 


0 


with  deliberation  in  the  awarding  the  premium  to  the  plan 
which  was  afterwards  adopted,  and  that  they  were  influenced  by 
the  desire  to  take  the  safe  course  of  construing  the  law  before 
commencing  the  construction  of  the  Park,  as  limiting  them  to 
the  sum  therein  specified,  as  nearly  as  that  sum  could  be  ascer- 
tained, and  as  far  as  such  a  construction  was  tenable.  The 
Board  accordingly  required  that  all  plans  should  come  within 
the  sum  that  would  probably  be  realized  under  that  law. 

The  estimates  accompanying  the  plan  adopted,  a3  well  as 
those  accompanying  all  the  other  plans,  without  any  exception, 
showed  that  they  could  be  carried  out  within  that  sum. 

This  sum  is  one  which,  when  funded,  would  require  for  the 
payment  of  its  annual  interest,  a  sum  not  greater  than  $100,000. 
It  is  not  a  fixed  sum  ;  it  appreciates  or  diminishes  with  the  rate 
of  interest  that  the  stock  bears.  The  maximum  amount  of  in- 
terest is  fixed,  but  not  of  principal.  The  amount  of  principal 
must  be  adjusted  to  produce  the  specified  interest.  The  rate  of 
interest  would  necessarily  be  determined  by  the  condition  of 
monetary  affairs  when  the  money  was  wanted,  or  the  stock 
issued.  The  stock  might  be  taken  if  it  bore  seven  per  cent., 
when  it  would  not  be  taken  if  it  bore  five  per  cent. 

If  the  stock  bore  seven  per  cent,  interest,  the 

amount  realized  under  the  section  would  be. . .  $1,42S,571 

If  six  per  cent.,. the  amount  would  be   1  fi66,(jG(j 

If  five  per  cent.,  the  amount  would  be.   2,000,000 

If  four  per  cent.,  the  amount  would  be  . . .  2,500,000 

If  three  per  cent.,  the  amount  would  be   3,333,333 

The  fact  was,  as  is  believed,  at  a  time  shortly  anterior  to  the 
passage  of  the  law,  city  stocks  were  marketable  at  five  per  cent., 
while  at  the  time  of  offering  the  stock  in  the  market,  a  few 
months  after,  they  could  not  be  disposed  of  at  five  per  cent., 
and  in  one  case,  the  loan  had  no  takers,  though  offered  pub- 
licly at  six  per  cent.,  and  was  only  disposed  of  with  great 
difficulty. 


7 


The  difference  between  the  issue  of  the  stock,  at 
six  or  seven  per  cent.,  would  be  a  diminution 
of  the  sum  at  the  command  of  the  Board,  to  the 
extent  of   $238,095 

The  difference  between  five  and  seven  per  cent., 

would  diminish  it  to  the  extent  of   571,4*28 


The  various  structures  of  the  Park  were  either  to  be  well  and 
sufficiently  done,  or  not.  Could  the  Legislature  have  intended 
that  the  Commissioners  should,  with  reference  to  such  a  work 
as  the  Central  Park  of  New  York,  adopt  plans  that  would  shift 
with  the  money  market  ?  cr  that  a  work  of  such  extent  and 
permanance,  designed  for  all  time,  should  be  cribbed  and  nar- 
rowed to  a  sum  of  money  not  only  meagre  and  insufficient,  at 
the  highest  amount  possible  to  obtain  under  the  law,  but  also  to 
a  sum.  that  might  be  decreased  with  every  financial  fluctuation? 
Did  the  Legislature  mean  to  require  the  Board  to  consult  the 
money  market  before  they  adopted  a  plan  for  the  Park  ?  So, 
that  if  money  was  to  be  had  at  seven  per  cent,  they  should 
adopt  a  plan  to  cost  $1,400,0'J0  ;  if  five  per  cent.,  one  to  cost 
$2,000,000? 

Again,  willing  as  the  Commissioners  were,  before  commenc- 
ing the  work,  to  take  precautions  to  keep  within  the  limits  of  a 
rigid  and  somewhat  forced  construction  of  the  law,  they  were* 
soon  called  on  practically  to  determine  whether  they  should 
proceed  to  carry  out  the  plan  in  such  a  superficial  and  cheap 
fashion,  as  would  nominally  complete  the  Park  within  the 
changing  limits  of  the  statute,  or  whether  the  structure  should 
be  commenced  and  continued  in  so  thorough  a  manner,  as  to 
render  it  durable  and  permanent,  expending  the  money  at  their 
command  in  such  a  way  that  it  should  not  be  wasted  in  cheap 
constructions,  but  in  doing  well  ' what  was  to  be  done. 

The  term  Park  is  very  indefinite — to  one  it  is  an  open  com- 
mon, to  another  it  is  an  organized  pleasure-ground  for  a  city. 
It  would  have  been  easy  to  make  a  Park  with  the  money 
allowed  by  the  law,  but  it  would  have  been  a  Park  unfit  for  the 
place — inadequate  to  the  wants  of  the  city,  and  in  the  end,  a 
wasteful  expenditure  of  money.  For  instance — the  carriage 
roads  cost  as  now  constructed,  about  $25,000  per  mile — if  the 
Board  could  have  reduced  itself  to  such  a  view  of  its  duty, 


8 


these  might  have  been  worked  as  country  roads,  at  an  expense 
of  not  over  $3,000  per  mile,  and  the  inhabitants  of  New  York, 
supplied  with  six  months  drives  of  dust,  and  six  months  of  mud. 

The  thirty  miles  of  walks  might  have  been  laid  out  on  the  same 
scale  of  cheapness ;  all  that  is  now  concealed  under  the  surface, 
of  drainage  essential  to  make  the  place  salubrious,  of  trenching 
and  fertilizing  the  soil  necessary  to  the  growth  of  trees,  whose 
flecked  shade  is  to  play  upon  the  ruddy  cheeks  of  the  children 
of  our  grandchildren,  the  summer  houses — the  digging  of 
lakes,  the  sewerage,  the  cross  roads  for  the  accommodation 
of  the  traffic  of  a  great  city,  all  these,  one  after  the  other,  might 
have  been  put  aside,  till  the  park  was  shorn  to  accommodate 
the  sum  supposed  to  be  fixed  by  the  statute,  but  it  would  have 
been  an  unsatisfactory  work,  and  unjustifiable,  except  upon  any 
but  the  clearest  and  most  express  injunction  of  law.  Did  any 
such  injunction  exist  ?  Its  language  is  :  "  No  plan  for  the  lay- 
ing out,  regulation  and  government  of  said  Park  shall  he  adopt- 
ed or  undertaken,  dbe."  Does  this  require  the  Commissioners  to 
construct  and  complete  a  park  for  a  specific  sum  ? 

If  any  of  this  language  can  be  made  to  signify  "  construc- 
tion," it  is  the  term  "  laying  out" — the  definition  of  which  is, 
"  planning,"  "  disposing,"  "  arranging." 

The  work  of  designing  is  a  mental  operation  anterior  to  lay- 
ing out,  as  laying  out  is  a  process  preceding  construction  ;  one 
speaks  of  laying  out  or  planning  a  building  or  a  garden. 

The  word  "  regulation'*  is  evidently  here  used  in  the  same 
sense  as  the  word  "  government,"  by  which  it  is  immediately 
followed,  and  of  which  it  is  a  synonyme. 

The  same  language  "regulation  and  government"  is  again 
used  in  the  4th  section,  thus,  to  the  Board  is  given  power  "  to 
pass  ordinances  for  the  regulation  and  government"  of  the 
Park;  and,  again,  in  the  14th  section,  it  is  said,  the  Commis- 
sioners may  "pass  such  ordinances  as  they  may  deem  necessary 
for  the  regulation,  use,  and  government  of  said  Park," — show- 
ing, that  this  language  in  the  9th  section  was  used  with  respect 
to  the  management  of  the  Park  only,  inasmuch  as  it  is  not  pro- 
bable that  the  power  to  pass  ordinances  for  the  regulation  and 
government  of  the  Park,  was  intended  to  operate  on  construc- 
tion, but  rather  on  control  and  management  during  its  progress 
and  after  completion. 


9 

The  words  "  lay  out  and  regulate"  are  again  used  in  the 
4th  section,  and  the  words  "lay  out  and  regulation"  in  the  7th 
section  of  the  same  act,  but  with  no  more  clearly  defined 
meaning. 

It  has  already  been  suggested  that  nothing  short  of  a  very 
clear  and  distinct  provision  of  law  would  justify  men  charged 
with  the  execution  of  a  most  responsible  duty,  involving  the 
expenditure  of  large  sums  of  money,  in  omitting  to  exercise  the 
same  degree  of  prudence  and  judgment  that  ordinarily  govern 
them  in  their  own  affairs  :  Passing  by,  however,  the  mere 
phraseology  of  the  law,  it  seems  equally  difficult  to  evolve  from 
its  terms,  ideas  that  it  is  possible  to  carry  out,  or  that  would 
prove  a  safe  guide  for  those  to  be  controlled  by  them. 

The  next  succeeding  section  of  the  act  contains  a  direction  to 
the  city  authorities  to  raise  moneys  by  loan,  to  the  extent  of  a 
sum,  the  annual  interest  of  which  shall  not  exceed  the  amount 
of  interest  specified  in  the  9th  section,  to  wit,  §100,000,  which 
loan,  it  is  provided,  shall  be  redeemable  in  thirty  years  from  its 
issue. 

Conceding  that  the  words  "  laying  out"  in  the  9th  section, 
mean  "  construction,"  the  section  would  be  in  effect  this — that 
no  plan  for  construction  and  government  of  the  Park  shall  be 
adopted,  which  in  its  execution  shall  require  more  than  a  sum 
the  annual  interest  of  which  shall  not  exceed  $100,000,  unless, 
indeed,  it  should  be  contended  that  the  language  intended  that 
the  expense  of  a  mere  plan  was  to  be  paid  out  of  the  fund  and 
the  balance  appropriated  to  the  government  of  the  Park,  inas* 
much,  as  government  commenced  immediately  with  the  organ- 
ization of  the  commission. 

It  will  be  observed  by  your  Honorable  Body,  that  the  act 
makes  no  other  appropriation  or  provision  for  the  government 
of  the  Park. 

Taken  literally,  this  section  combines  notions  of  political  econ- 
omy, and  of  finance,  involved  and  impracticable. 

And  after  the  ideas  are  extricated  from  the  language,  they 
will  be  found  impossible  of  execution,  and  can  only  be  used  to 
serve  with  the  text  of  the  next  section,  as  a  limit  of  the  amount 
the  Commissioners  were  authorized  to  expend,  and  not  as  a  limit 
upon  the  cost  of  the  Park. 
2 


10 


It  is  required  that  the  construction  of  the  Park  shall  be  by  loan. 
This  is  consistent  with  sound  economy,  inasmuch  as  the  money 
derived  from  the  loan,  is  represented  in  the  Park  provided  by 
it,  and  which  is  worth  twice  the  sum  borrowed. 

It  is  also  required  that  the  moneys  necessary  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Park,  shall  be  derived  from  the  same  loan. 

The  construction  of  the  Park  is  a  work  with  a  limit ;  it  is  ca- 
pable of  completion  ;  it  has  an  end  and  a  bound ; — but,  the 
government  of  a  Park,  its  keeping,  its  care,  its  repair,  its  pro- 
tection, and  the  protection  of  its  visitors,  its  bureau  of  accounts, 
in  short,  its  government  and  regulation,  is  a  continuing  business, 
not  to  be  sustained,  except  in  violation  of  all  rules  of  economy, 
by  loan  or  by  a  construction  fund. 

The  two  things  will  not  travel  together — construction  by  bor- 
rowing and  the  annual  expenses  of  government  by  borrowing. 

Should  a  railroad  company  borrow  to  build  its  road,  and  re- 
sort to  the  same  mode  of  obtaining  money  for  its  annual  current 
expenses,  it^would  have  but  a  very  brief  existence  to  care  for. 

As  the  means  for  constructing  a  work  which  is  to  display  its 
highest  benefits  and  beauties  to  posterity,  are  very  properly 
chargeable  on  posterity,  in  shape  of  obligations,  maturing  some 
years  ahead,  so  it  is  but  just  that  at  least  the  current  annual 
expenses  of  maintaining  a  structure  of  which  the  present  gener- 
ation enjoys  the  use,  should  be  provided  annually  by  tax  and 
not  by  the  process  of  a  loan. 

To  provide  for  the  current  expenses  of  successive  years  by  a 
public  fund  or  loan,  Would  be  without  precedent. 

If  the  expenses  of  construction  and  of  government  are  both 
to  be  paid  out  of  the  $1,500,000  provided  by  the  act,  to  which 
of  these  shall  it  be  applied?  Assuming  the  expense  of  manage- 
ment and  government,  after  the  construction  is  complete,  to  be 
$150,000  per  annum,  the  whole  fund  would  be  consumed  in  ten 
years  in  government ;  where,  then,  is  the  fund  for  construction  ? 
On  the  other  hand,  if  the  whole  fund  is  used  for  construction, 
from  what  source  shall  the  means  come  for  keeping  it  after  it  is 
completed  ? 

The  loan  is  to  be  for  thirty  years  ;  was  it  the  plan  of  the  frain- 
ers  of  the  law,  to  pay  the  expenses  of  governing  the  Park  for 
this  period  of  time,  and  apply  the  balance  to  its  construction? 


11 


A  brief  trial  of  a  plan  to  carry  on  the  government  of  this 
city  by  loan  instead  of  tax,  by  funding  the  expense  of  its  police, 
of  its  street  cleaning,  of  itsl  ighting,  of  all  its  current  expenses 
of  government,  would  be  sufficient  to  ensure  its  abandon- 
ment. 

The  Commissioners  have  had  a  physical  work  to  perform — 
they  have  had  matter  to  deal  with  ;  and  to  do  it,  they  have 
called  to  their  aid  such  forces  as  they  could  command  ;  they  did 
not  see  fit  to  plant  trees  to  be  afterward  uprooted  to  supply  the 
drainage ;  they  did  not  choose  to  ornament  the  surface  of  the 
landscape,  before  its  basis  was  complete  and  thorough ;  they 
knew  that  neither  the  smooth  enamel  of  the  lawn,  nor  the  vigor- 
ous foliage  of  the  forest,  could  come  of  a  stinted  soil ;  they  in- 
tended to  proceed  with  honest  and  direct  purpose  to  the  per- 
formance of  their  duty. 

Were  all  these  processes  to  be  reversed — was  the  work  to  be 
done  upon  the  surface,  and  everything  beneath  left  undone — was 
common  sense  to  be  set  aside  on  the  apprehension  that  language 
so  indefinite,  and  ideas  so  confused  as  those  of  the  ninth  section, 
could  by  any  process  be  marshalled  to  confront  and  charge  them 
with  infidelity  to  their  trust  or  with  dereliction  of  duty  ? 

The  Board  are  aware  that  more  than  ordinary  skill  and  fore- 
sight are  necessary  to  frame  legislation  adequate  to  all  the 
contingencies  that  might  grow  np  in  the  progress  of  a  new  en- 
terprize,  like  constructing  the  Central  Park,  and  of  adjusting 
its  delicate  relations  to  those  of  the  surrounding  city. 

It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  all  these  contingencies  could  be 
provided  for  by  the  exercise  of  all  the  foresight  with  which 
humanity  is  gifted. 

The  provisions  of  the  law  of  1S57  are  no  exception  to  this 
general  rule. 

A  provision  should  have  been  made  for  the  maintenance  and 
government  of  the  Park  by  current  annual  tax,  so  that  all  the 
expenses  of  government  should  not  be,  as  they  necessarily  have 
been,  charged  upon  the  fund  for  construction. 

To  the  Legislature  of  1859,  as  well  as  repeatedly  to  the 
Common  Council  of  the  city  of  New  York,  the  Board  have,  in 
their  communications,  shown  that  the  sum  of  money  at  their 
command  was  insufficient  to  construct  the  Park. 


12 


Foreseeing  the  inadequacy  of  the  fund  at  their  disposal  for 
the  completion  of  the  Park  in  a  manner  commensurate  with 
the  necessities  of  this  metropolis,  or  with  the  expectations  of  its 
citizens,  the  Board  presented,  during  the  past  year,  a  commu- 
nication to  the  Common  Council  of  the  city  of  Xew  York,  for 
its  approval  of  an  application  to  the  Legislature  for  an  ad- 
ditional sum  of  money,  the  annual  interest  of  which  should 
not  exceed  SI 50,000  from  which  communication  the  following 
is  extracted : 

"The  Commissioners,  in  the  conduct  of  the  work  at  the 
Park,  have  been  governed  by  the  conviction  that  permanency, 
thoroughness,  and  substantiality  of  structure,  are  in  the  end 
true  economy.  Much  more  extended  apparent  completeness 
might  perhaps  have  been  attained  by  the  amount  of  money  that 
has  been  expended,  but  the  work  would  have  wanted  the 
characteristics  that  now  render  it  so  durable  and  so  generally 
satisfactory. 

"  Much  that  is  out  of  sight  could  have  been  dispened  with, 
and  the  same  external  appearance  of  finish  attained.  It  would 
have  been,  however,  that  sort  of  completeness  that,  as  is  the 
case  with  most  of  our  public  works,  would  Lave  required 
several  years  to  finish,  and  at  very  greatly  increased  expense 
over  the  cost  of  a  thorough  structure  at  the  outset.  The  ex- 
tended system  of  drainage,  so  essential  to  the  salubrity  of  the 
Park,  and  so  important  to  the  vegetation  that  is  to  adorn  it, 
does  its  effectual  work  unseen.  The  preparation  of  the  ground 
before  planting  the  trees,  might  have  been  accomplished  with 
less  expenditure,  but  high  cultivation  and  fertilization  is  ri:e 
preparation  for  the  growth  of  a  century.  Xo  part  of  this  island 
can  compare  with  the  area  of  the  Central  Park  for  complete- 
ness of  drainage,  either  surface  or  subterranean;  and  the  city, 
authorities,  as  well  as  the  property  owners  of  the  vicinity 
would  do  well,  before  the  work  of  building  the  city  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Park,  to  inquire  whether  modifications  of 
the  present  method  of  city  drainage  might  not  with  advantage 
be  made. 

"  It  has  not  been  unknown  to  the  Board,  that  the  completion 
of  the  park  on  such  a  basis  was  not  practicable  within  the  sum 
provided  by  the  Legislature;  they  have  preferred  to  do  the 
work  well,  make  a  park  adequate  to  the  necessities  of  a  great 
city,  by  a  sufficient  expenditure  of  money,  rather  than  shape  off 
a  mere  field,  insalubrious  and  unattractive,  within  the  limits  of 
the  sum  at  present  at  their  disposal. 

,;In  anticipation  of  the  necessity  of  legislative  action,  a 


13 


special  committee  of  this  Board,  during  tlie  last  summer,  exam- 
ined this  subject  in  detail,  and  in  a  report  to  the  Board,  present  a 
very  careful  estimate  of  the  probable  cost  of  completing  the  park. 

"  From  the  investigations  of  the  committee,  and  from  subse- 
quent experience,  the  Board  conclude  that  application  should 
be  made  to  the  Legislature  to  grant  the  authority  to  create  and 
issue  of  the  Central  Park  Improvement  Fund,  a  further  sum, 
the  annual  interest  of  which  shall  not  exceed  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  the  Board  of  Commissioners  of  the 
Central  Park  respectfully  request  such  action  of  your  Honor- 
able Body  as  shall  express  a  concurrence  and  approval  in  such 
application." 

This  request  received  the  concurrence  of  both  branches  of 
the  Common  Council,  and  in  pursuance  thereof  the  present  bill 
is  now  before  the  Legislature. 

So  far  as  this  question  is  one  of  mere  expenditure  of  money, 
it  is  believed  that  the  interests  of  the  corporate  authorities  of 
the  city,  the  taxpayers,  and  the  citizens  at  large  require  the 
speedy  completion  of  this  spacious  pleasure  ground.  Without 
entering  upon  any  detail  on  this  point,  the  Board  will  only 
quote  a  brief  extract  from  a  late  report  of  the  Comptroller,  the 
chief  financial  officer  of  the  city,  to  the  Common  Council.  It  is 
in  these  words : 

"  The  increase  in  the  amount  of  taxes  accruing  to  the  city  in 
consequence  of  the  enhancement  in  value  of  real  estate  situated 
in  the  upper  part  of  this  island,  over  and  above  the  former 
value  of  the  land  now  withdrawn  from  taxation,  on  account  of 
the  opening  of  this  noble  park,  will  it  is  thought,  afford  more 
than  sufficient  means  for  the  payment  of  interest  on  the  debt 
incurred  for  its  purchase  and  improvement,  without  any  increase 
in  the  general  rate  of  taxation." 

The  organization  of  the  large  forces  eno-aged  in  the  great 
variety  of  concurrent  and  interlacing  operations  of  construction, 
in  such  manner  that  each  class  may  be  effectively  occupied, 
and  a  faithful  return  of  the  time  of  every  individual  secured, 
lias  required  very  perfect  arrangements,  and  such  as  could 
be  readily  adjusted  to  the  constantly  occurring  changes  in  the 
work. 

This  organization  intimately  affects  the  outgo  of  the  money, 
and  upon  its  fidelity,  and  upon  the  vigor  that  pervades  it, 
depend  the  results  that  are  obtained  from  the  means  expended. 


The  construction  of  the  park,  in  all  departments,  has  "been  char- 
acterized by  thorough  system,  and  efficiency,  and  economy,  and 
has  not  only  been  satisfactory  to  the  Board,  but,  it  is  believed, 
has  commanded  the  warm  approval  of  experienced  constructors 
and  of  the  public. 

About  10,500  persons  have  had  employment  on  the  park  at 
different  times,  since  its  commencement. 

4,435  were  employed  during  last  year. 

The  force  is  paid  in  specie  regularly  every  fortnight. 

The  preamble  to  the  resolution  adopted  by  the  Senate, 
represent  the  Commissioners  of  the  Central  Park  as  applying 
"  to  the  Legislature  for  the  sum  of  five  millions  of  dollars  for 
the  laying  out,  regulation  and  government  of  the  Park,  namely, 
two  and  a  half  millions  for  the  laying  out,  and  two  and  a  half 
millions  for  the  care  and  government  of  the  Park,  or  the  annual 
interest  on  that  sum,  being  an  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars per  annum." 

Inasmuch  as  the  Commissioners  have  made  no  application 
for  any  such  sum  as  five  millions  of  dollars,  it  is  apparent  that 
the  preamble  and  resolutions  were  drawn  under  a  misapprehen- 
sion of  the  terms  of  the  bill  now  before  the  Senate,  and  that  part 
of  the  preamble  which  states,  that  the  Commissioners  apply  for 
"  two  and  a  half  millions,  for  the  care  and  government  of  the 
Park,  or  the  annual  interest  on  that  sum,"  shows  that  the 
same  idea  of  governing  the  Park,  and  of  its  care  after  comple- 
tion, by  borrowing  and  expending  a  principal  sum,  still  had 
possession  of  the  mind  of  the  framer  of  the  preamble.  To  say 
that  because  the  sum  of  $150,000  is  asked  for  to  meet  current 
expenses,  therefore  the  Board  either  ask  for,  or  add  to  the 
cost  of  the  Park  a  principal  sum,  of  which  this  is  the  interest, 
is  like  saying  that  the  owner  of  a  country  seat,  who  expends  in 
the  course  of  the  year  one  thousand  dollars  in  keeping  his 
grounds,  adds  therebj'  to  their  cost  a  principal  sum,  of  which 
$1,000  is  the  interest. 

A  single  glance  at  the  bill  before  the  Senate,  discovers  its 
objects.    They  are  briefly  these  : 

The  first  and  second  sections  provide  for  the  creation  by  the 
Common  Council  of  the  city  of  New  York,  of  a  stock  or  fund 


15 


of  $S33,333TYo>  in  each  of  three  years,  for  the  purpose  of 
completing  the  Central  Park,  and  for  the  payment  of  the  in- 
terest on  this  stock.  There  is  no  provision  of  the  bill  raising 
the  money :  its  raising  is  provided  for  through  the  authorities 
of  the  city,  in  the  customary  modes. 

The  third  section  provides  for  raising  by  the  Board  of  Super- 
visors in  the  city  of  New  York,  by  tax,  an  annual  sum  as  may 
be  required,  not  exceeding  $150,000  in  any  one  year,  for  the 
maintenance  and  government  of  the  Park — for  the  current  ex- 
penses of  the  Park.  This  provision  supplies  the  omission  in  the 
law  of  1S57,  which  has  compelled  the  Board  to  maintain  and 
govern  for  nearly  three  years,  out  of  the  principal  fund  pro- 
vided by  that  law. 

In  addition  to  these  expenses  of  keeping  and  of  maintaining 
the  Park,  are  to  be  added  sundry  other  expenses,  not  abso- 
lutely essential  to  a  Park,  but  required  by  public  con- 
venience. 

The  necessary  expense  to  render  59th  street,  which  bounds 
the  Park  on  the  south,  and  through  which  the  Park  will  be 
reached  by  the  greater  number  of  its  visitors,  a  convenient 
access  to  the  Park,  will  be  not  less  than  about  §25,000. 

The  expense  of  construction  of  roads,  for  facilitating  busi- 
ness travel  and  traffic  across  the  Park,  in  such  manner  as 
not  to  impede  the  pleasure  travel  of  the  Park,  though  not 
strictly  a  portion  of  the  Park,  yet  is  a  great  necessity. 

To  omit  these  improvements  would  be  a  mistake  that  it 
would  be  difficult  and  expensive  to  repair.  It  has  been  con- 
stantly urged  in  the  Board,  that  the  expense  of  their  construc- 
tion should  be  separated  in  the  accounts  of  the  Board  from 
other  expenditures,  with  the  view  of  making  it  the  subject 
of  an  application  for  the  amount  of  funds  expended  in  their 
construction. 

The  proposed  addition  to  the  North  end  of  the  Park  of  about 
sixty-five  acres,  as  also  of  the  area  comprised  within  the  grounds 
of  the  late  State  Arsenal  of  some  six  acres,  will  occasion  a  large 
additional  expenditure  of  money. 

It  is  also  well  known,  that  up  to  a  time  shortly  anterior  to  the 
passage  of  the  act  of  1S57,  the  city  had  no  authority  to  issue 
stocks  at  a  rate  exceeding  five  per  cent.,  and  that  these  stocks 


16 


were  saleable.  This  rate  of  interest  would  Lave  given  the  Board 
two  millions  of  dollars,  whereas  they  were  issued  hearing  six 
per  cent,  and  yielded  but  $1,666,000,  or  a  difference  of  $333,- 
333. 

All  these  circumstances  have  either  diminished  the  fund  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Board,  or  have  thrown  upon  that  fund  large 
expenses,  probably  not  contemplated  at  the  time  of  the  passage 
of  the  law,  but  essential  to  the  perfection  of  the  work  committed 
to  the  charge  of  the  Board. 

!Nor  is  it  possible,  that  the  expenditures  of  a  great  work  like 
this,  can  be  accurately  estimated  before  hand. 

The  Legislature  could  not  foresee  these  contingences,  or  other 
exigencies  of  the  work  which  were  to  spring  up  in  its  progress ; 
the  laAV  of  1857  can  only  be  properly  construed  as  expressing 
the  intention  of  the  Legislature  to  do  all  it  could  intelligently 
do,  which  was  to  fix  a  limit,  not  what  the  Park  was  to  cost,  but 
to  specify  and  limit  the  amount  of  the  annual  interest  of  the 
sum  that  at  the  outset  should  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Commissioners. 

The  plan  was  adopted  in  1S5S,  and  in  1859  its  principal  fea- 
tures were  in  progress.  The  met,  that  after  the  plan  was  adopt- 
ed, and  rocks  riven,  lakes  excavated,  trees  planted,  drains  laid, 
drives  graded,  walks  made,  bridges  erected,  on  that  plan,  the 
Legislature  should,  after  all  this  had  been  done,  again  say  in 
1S59,  that  no  plan  "  shall  be  adopted,  for  the  laying  out,  regu- 
lation, and  government,"  &c,  re-enacting  the  section  of  1857, 
totidem  verbis  (excepting  the  addition  of  $25,000  to  the  sum  of 
the  interest,  the  principal  of  which  might  be  expended,)  would 
seem  to  be  conclusive,  that  the  intention  of  the  Legislature  was 
not  to  set  aside  the  plan  of  1857,  to  require  the  adoption  of 
another,  but  to  authorize  a  further  expenditure  of  about  $100,000 
in  carrying  out  the  plan  already  adopted. 

Did  the  law  of  1859  contemplate  the  adoption  of  another 
plan,  or  did  it  contemplate  the  carrying  out  of  the  plan  already 
adopted?  If  the  latter,  then  the  plan  already  adopted  has 
the  express  recognition,  sanction,  and  approval  of  the  Legisla- 
ture. 

The  Board,  in  reply  to  the  paragraph  ]STo.  4  of  the  resolution, 
requesting  "  the  names  of  the  Commissioners  voting  upon  the 
question  of  doing  the  work  by  contract  or  by  days'  work," 


ir 


respectfully  state,  that  the  first  action  of  the  Board  authorizing 
the  employment  of  laborers  by  the  day,  was  on  the  2Sth  July, 
1857. 

On  the  question  then  before  the  Board  : 

Messrs.  Russell,  Butterworth,  Gray,  Ilutchins,  Elliott  and 
Hogg  voted  in  the  affirmative. 

Messrs.  Dillon,  Fields  and  Green  in  the  negative. 

This  negative  vote  was  given,  it  is  believed,  on  the  ground 
that  the  Commissioners  had  not  then  realized  any  money  to  pay 
with. 

The  next  time  the  subject  of  employing  more  men  by  day's 
work  came  before  the  Board  was  on  the  8th  of  September, 
1857  Messrs.  Cooley,  Dillon,  Russell,  Butterworth,  Fields, 
Green,  Strong  and  Hogg  being  present;  though  the  ayes  and 
noes  were  not  called,. seem  to  have  been  unanimous  in  favor 
of  such  employment. 

From  this  time  onward,  at  various  times,  the  force  of  day 
laborers,  mechanics,  cartmen,  &c,  was  increased  and  decreased 
from  time  to  time,  as  the  work  required. 

On  the  15th  July,  1858,  in  the  midst  of  the  most  active  oper- 
ations then  proceeding  in  all  departments  of  the  work,  in  the 
height  of  the  active  working  season,  with  a  force  of  mechanics, 
day  laborers,  cartmen,  and  others  of  about  1500  men  employed, 
the  following  resolution  was  proposed  : 

Resolved,  That  the  works  for  drainage,  trenching,  and  irri- 
gation, the  excavation  and  construction  of  ponds  and  lakes,  and 
the  construction  of  the  Drive,  Ride,  and  Walk,  and  all  other 
works  upon  the  Park,  unless  otherwise  specially  ordered  by  the 
Board,  be  clone  by  contract;  and  that  the  architect-in-chief 
report  to  this  Board  working  plans,  with  specifications  for  each 
of  such  works. 

Upon  this  resolution,  the  vote  was — ■ 

Ayes — Messrs.  Dillon  and  Belmont — 2. 

Ways — Messrs.  Russell,  Gray,  Green,  Strong — L 

(Five  members  being  absent.) 

At  the  next  meeting,  Mr.  Fields  obtained,  by  unanimous 
consent,  leave  to  have  it  entered  on  the  minutes,  that,  if  he  had 
been  present,  he  would  have  voted  in  the  affirmative. 

This  action  of  the  Board  is  presumed  to  be  that  respecting 
which  enquiry  is  made  in  paragraph  No.  4  of  the  resolutions  of 
the  Senate. 
3 


18 


The  resolutions  call  for  "The  items  of  the  plan  which  the 
board  has  resolved  to  strike  out  or  omit." 

So  far  as  formally  determined  by  action  of  the  board,  the 
parts  of  the  original  plan  which  have  been  omitted,  are  as  fol- 
lows : 

1.  An  entrance  road  at  Sixtieth  street  on  Eighth  avenue,  and 
an  entrance  on  Fifty-ninth  street  between  Sixth  and  Seventh  ave- 
nues. A  single  entrance  at  the  corner  of  Fifty-ninth  street  and 
Eighth  avenue  has  been  substituted  for  these.  This  has  involved 
the  filling  of  a  piece  of  low  ground  between  Fifty-ninth  street 
and  Sixty-second  street,  adjoining  Eighth  avenue,  the  expense 
of  which — as  well  as  the  objectionable  character  of  this  entrance, 
owing  to  the  meeting  of  various  angles  at  the  intersection  of  the 
Eighth  avenue,  Fifty-ninth  street,  and  Bloomingdale  road — was 
intended  to  be  avoided  by  the  original  plan.  The  advantages 
of  the  course  finally  adopted  seemed,  to  the  judgment  of  the 
board,  to  warrant  the  additional  expense. 

2.  The  entrance  at  103d  street  of  the  original  plan  has  been 
transferred  to  100th  street.  This  change  was  made  upon  the 
recommendation  of  the  designers  of  the  original  plan,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  extension  of  the  limits  of  the  park,  authorized  by 
the  legislature  in  1859. 

The  response  of  the  board  to  the  questions  numbered  in  the 
preamble  and  resolutions  Nos.  6  and  7,  will  be  found  given, 
with  all  practicable  accuracy,  by  the  appendices  hereto  annexed, 
marked  A  and  B. 

"Which  of  the  items,  if  any,  are  essential,  and  which  of  them 
are  non-essential  V 

There  are  now  in  use  about  3  J  miles  of  carriage  road,  firm, 
smooth,  of  easy  grades,  and  so  drained  and  constructed  as  to  be 
frost  and  storm  proof,  and  therefore  available  at  any  season  of 
the  year,  being  much  the  best  road  in  the  United  States,  although 
not  superior  to  many  in  Europe.  There  are  also  already  in  use 
7i  miles  of  firm,  smooth,  and  substantially  constructed  walks. 
Both  carriage-roads  and  walks  are  carried  through  rural  grounds, 
which  have  been  wrell  drained  and  freed  from  disagreeable  ob- 
jects, and  whatever  is  likely  to  render  the  air  impure.  These 


19 


grounds  have  been  to  some  extent  'planted.  What  is  essential 
to  the  definition  of  a  Park  is  therefore  provided,  and  the  Board 
find  it  difficult  to  draw  the  distinction  required  by  the  Senate 
between  the  essential  and  the  non-essentialities  of  the  work  re- 
maining to  be  done,  except  with  reference  to  their  own  stan- 
dard, of  what  is  fitting  the  common  pleasure-ground  of  two  mil- 
lions of  citizens.  Every  item  of  their  estimated  expenditure  is 
essential  to  this  ideal. 

"No  one  of  them  can  be  omitted  without  causing  an  incon- 
gruity, or  leaving  the  Park  incomplete.  In  the  item  for 
bridges,  for  instance,  a  considerable  sum  might  be  saved  by 
the  substitution  of  wood  for  stone  or  iron  ;  but  wooden  bridges 
would  be  incongruous,  after  what  has  been  already  done.  A 
larger  sum  might  be  saved  by  dispensing  entirely  with  some  of 
the  proposed  bridges ;  but  this  would  leave  incomplete  a  system 
of  walks,  drives,  and  rides,  which  has  been  partially  realized, 
and  of  which  each  of  the  proposed  bridges  is  a  necessary  mem- 
ber. It  would  also  render  much  work  that  has  been  done  use- 
less, or  destroy  its  original  purpose. 

The  amount  of  money  expended  to  18th  May, 

1S58,  when  the  plan  was. adopted,  was   §163,53100 

The  amount  expended  to  January  1st,  1859, 

was   5S5,369  27 

The  amount  expended  to  January  1st,  1860, 

was   1,761,615  71 

The  entire  amount  of  drain  tile  thus  far  laid  on  the  Central 
Park,  not  including  vitrified  pipe  and  other  materials  used  in 
the  sewerage  of  roads,  is  as  follows : 

Between  59th  and  79th  streets   121,892  feet 

"     79th  and  96th  streets   1,102  " 

"     96th  and  106th  streets   21,929  " 

Total   $111,923  feet 

=27.4  4  0  miles. 

This  has  cost  the  sum  of  $5,117  30. 
=3-J  cents  per  foot  for  all  sizes. 

The  articles  required  for  the  Central  Park  are  ordered  by  the 


20 


Board,  or  referred  to  the  Executive  Committee,  consisting  of 
five  members  of  the  Board,  and  after  being  ordered  by  this 
committee  are  purchased  by  its  treasurer,  with  the  aid  of  such 
person  as  he  may  employ  for  that  purpose.  Mr.  B.  F.  Crane 
and  Mr.  Thomas  Hogg  are  the  only  persons  employed  for  such 
aid,  with  perhaps  a  rare  exception,  and  for  an  amount  rarely,  if 
ever,  exceeding  at  any  one  time  one  hundred  dollars.  No  person 
who  makes  purchases  for  the  Central  Park  is  connected  in  any 
way  wTith  any  firm  in  the  city  of  New  York  or  elsewhere,  nor 
has  any  such  person  any  pecuniary  interest,  direct  or  indirect,  in 
any  firm  in  this  city  or  elsewhere,  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Board. 

The  amount  expended  for  the  purchase  of  materials,  &c, 
from  May  1st,  1857,  the  date  of  the  organization  of  the  Board, 
to  January  1,  1858,  was — 

For  materials  of  construction  and  tools..  $1,940  03 
For  stationery  and  printing   648  13 

Total  from  May  1st,  1857,  to  January  1st,  1858. . . .  $2,588  16 

Expended  from  January  1,  1858,  to  January  1, 
1859: 

For  materials  of  construction  and  tools.  .$G0,186  32 

"   Stationery  and  printing   3,425  79 

«  Trees  and  plants   5,529  83 

"  Manure   6,734  20 

Total  from  Jan.  1,  1859,  to  Jan.  1, 1  60  $75,876  14 

Expended  from  January  1,  1859,  to  January  1, 
1860: 

For  materials  of  construction  and  tools. $  194,040  55 

"  Trees  and  plants   12,49105 

"   Stationery  and  printing   5,718  60 

«  Manure   7,204  60 

Total  from  Jan.  1,  1859,  to  Jan.  1, 1860   219,454  SO 

Total  expenditure  for  purchases  from  May  1,  1857, 

to  January  1,  I860,  was  $297,919  10 

The  Board  desires  to  express  its  firm  conviction  that  the 
$2,500,000  specified  in  the  bill  now  before  the  Senate,  is  fully 


21 


adequate  to  the  completion  of  the  Park  in  such  a  manner  as 
shall  be  acceptable  to  the  Public,  and  worthy  the  city  of  New 
York ;  and  in  asking  for  the  present  amount,  the  Board  are 
governed  by  the  belief  that  no  additional  or  farther  sum  will 
ever  be  required  or  asked  for  by  them.  Much  of  the  informa- 
tion required  by  your  Hon.  Body  has  called  for  difficult  and 
extensive  computations,  and  has  necessarily  occupied  time  in 
its  preparation. 

The  Board  has  herein  endeavored  to  lay  the  information  re- 
quired before  the  Senate  as  promptly  as  was  practicable;  they 
feel  and  urge  upon  the  Legislature  the  immense  importance  of 
an  early  provision  of  law  to  enable  the  Common  Council  of 
New  York  to  provide  the  Board  with  means  necessary  to  prose- 
cute their  work  during  the  present  month,  and  are  gratified  at 
the  evidences  of  the  deep  interest  that  the  progress  of  this 
great  work  of  the  metropolis  has  excited  in  the  minds  of  the 
representatives  of  the  people  of  the  whole  State. 

The  months  of  March  and  April  are  the  planting  months  of 
spring,  trees  are  purchased  and  on  their  way  to  the  Park ;  the 
regular  forces  of  the  Park  are  waiting  for  employment. 

To  conduct  extensive  operations  in  any  department  of  the 
Park  requires  previous  provision  of  materials  and  organization 
of  men.  All  these  circumstances  impress  upon  the  Board  the 
serious  consequences  of  delay,  yet  the  Commissioners  cheer- 
fully tender  to  your  Honorable  Body  all  the  facilities  in  their 
power  for  obtaining  the  fullest  information  as  to  all  departments 
of  their  work,  as  they  believe  that  to  spread  information  of  this 
work  in  all  its  details,  is  to  attract  to  its  beauties  new  troops  of 
admirers,  and  to  confer  upon  its  management  an  increase  of  the 
friendly  regards  and  confidence  of  the  people. 

New  York,  March  8th,  1860. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

By  order  of  the  Board. 
E.  M.  Blatcheord, 
President  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners 
of  the  Centred  Parle, 

Andw.  H.  Green, 

Comptroller  of  the  Parfo 


22 


"Wm.  II.  Grant,  Esq., 

Superintending  Engineer  of  the  Central  Park  : 

Sir, — The  Honorable  the  Senate  of  the  State,  have  pro- 
pounded to  the  Board  of  Commissioners  of  the  Central  Park, 
among  others,  the  following  interrogatories  : 

"How  much  money  has  been  expended  below  79th  street,  or 
how  much  below  96th  street  ?  how  much  below  106th  street, 
and  the  number  of  acres  in  each  section  belonging  to  the 
Park  ?" 

"  How  much  money  is  required  to  be  expended  in  each 
section,  stating  the  items  of  expenditure  and  the  cost  of  each  ?" 

"Will  you  have  the  computations  necessary  to  give  a  full 
answer  to  these  questions  carefully  and  accurately  made,  and 
send  the  result  to  me  as  promp^y  a3  is  practicable  with  cor- 
rectness. 

Yours,  respectfully, 

Andrew  II.  Green, 

Comptroller  of  the  Park. 


Andrew  H.  Green,  Esq., 

Comptroller  of  the  Park  : 
Sir, — In  compliance  with  your  instructions  in  reference  to 
the  interrogatories  of  the  Honorable  the  Senate,  I  submit  here- 
with the  statements  answering  the  same. 
I  am,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obclt.  serv., 

Wm.  H.  Grant, 

Sup erin t en di n g  E n gi  n  eer * 

Central  Park,  March  8th,  1860. 


23 


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30 


Appendix  C. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  A  PLAN  FOE  THE  IMPROVE- 
MENT OF  THE  CENTRAL  PARK. 

 »«<.  

A  general  survey  of  the  ground  allotted  to  the  park, 
taken  with  a  view  to  arrive  at  the  leading  characteristics 
Tcai°fugges-  which  present  themselves,  as  all-important  to  be  considered 

tions-  in  adapting  the  actual  situation  to  its  purpose,  shows  us,  in 
the  first  place,  that  it  is  very  distinctly  divided  into  two 
tolerably  equal  portions,  which,  for  convenience  sake,  may 
be  called  the'upper  and  the  lower  parks. 

The  horizontal  lines  of  the  upper  park  are  bold  and 
sweeping,  and  the  slopes  have  great  breadth  in  almost 
every  aspect  in  which  they  may  be  contemplated.  As 
The  upper    this  character  is  the  highest  ideal  that  can  be  aimed  at  for 

pa,k*  a  park  under  any  circumstances,  and  as  it  is  in  most 
decided  contrast  to  the  confined  and  formal  lines  of  the 
city,  it  is  desirable  to  interfere  with  it,  by  cross  roads,  and 
other  constructions,  as  little  as  possible.  Formal  planting 
and  architectural  effects,  unless  on  a  very  grand  scale,  must 
be  avoided ;  and  as  nearly  all  the  land  between  the  Reser- 
voir and  106th  street  (west  of  the  Boston  Road)  is  seen  in 
connection,  from  any  point  within  itself,  a  unity  of 
character  should  be  studiously  preserved  in  all  the  garden- 
ing details. 

The  lower  park  is  far  more  heterogeneous  in  its  charac- 
ter, and  will  require  a  much  more  varied  treatment.  The 
The  lower  most  important  feature  in  its  landscape,  is  the  long  rocky 
and  wooded  hill-side  lying  immediately  south  of  the  Res- 
ervoir. Inasmuch  as  beyond  this  point  there  do  not 
appear  to  be  any  leading  natural  characteristics  of  similar 
consequence  in  the  scenery,  it  will  be  important  to  draw  as 
much  attention  as  possible  to  this  hill-side,  to  afford 


31 


facilities  for  rest  and  leisurely  contemplation  upon  the 
rising  ground  opposite,  and  to  render  the  lateral  boundaries 
of  the  park  in  its  vicinity  as  inconspicuous  as  possible. 
The  central  and  western  portion  of  the  lower  park  is  an 
irregular  table-land  ;  the  eastern  is  composed  of  a  series  of 
of  graceful  undulations,  suggesting  lawn  or  gardenesque 
treatment.  In  the  extreme  south  we  find  some  flat  alluvial 
meadow ;  but  the  general  character  of  the  ground  is 
rugged,  and  there  are  several  bold,  rocky  bluffs,  that  help 
to  give  individuality  to  this  part  of  the  composition. 
Such  being  the  general  suggestions  that  our  survey  has 
afforded,  it  becomes  necessary  to  consider  how  the  re" 
quirements  of  the  Commission,  a3  given  in  their  instruc- 
tions, may  be  met  with  the  least  sacrifice  of  the  character- 
istic excellencies  of  the  ground. 

Up  to  this  time,  in  planning  public  works  for  the  city  of 
Xew  York,  in  no  instance  has  adequate  allowance  been 
made  for  its  increasing  population  and  business;  not  even  rreli, 
in  the  case  of  the  Croton  Aqueduct,  otherwise  so  wTell  JJJ 
considered.  The  City  Hall,  the  best  architectural  work  in 
the  State,  and  built  to  last  for  centuries,  does  not  at  this 
time  afford  facilities  for  one-third  of  the  business  for  which 
it  was  intended.  The  present  Post-Office,  expensively 
fitted  up  some  ten  years  ago,  no  longer  answers  its  purpose, 
and  a  new  one  of  twice  it3  capacity  is  imperatively 
demanded.  The  Custom  House,  expressly  designed  for 
permanence,  and  constructed  to  that  end  at  an  enormous 
expense,  less  than  twenty  years  ago,  is  not  half  large 
enough  to  accommodate  the  present  commerce  of  the  city. 

The  explanation  of  this  apparently  bad  calculation,  is 
mainly  given  with. the  fact,  that  at  every  census  since  that 
of  1S00,  the  city's  rate  of  increase  has  been  found  to  be 
overrunning  the  rate  previously  established. 

A  wise  forecast  of  the  future  gave  the  proposed  park  the 
name  of  Central.  Our  present  chief  magistrate,  who  can 
himself  remember  market-gardens  below  Canal  street,  and 
a  post-and-rail  fence  on  the  north  side  of  City-Hall  Park, 
warned  his  coadjutors,  in  his  inaugural  message,  to  expect 
a  great  and  rapid  movement  of  population  towards  the  parts 


32 


of  the  island  adjoining  the  Central  Park.  A  year  hence, 
five  city  railroads  will  bring  passengers  as  far  up  as  the 
park,  if  not  beyond  it.  Recent  movements  to  transfer 
the  steamboat  landings  and  railroad  stations,  although 
as  yet  unsuccessful,  indicate  changes  we  are  soon  to 
expect. 

The  17,000  lots  withdrawn  from  use  for  building  pur- 
poses in  the  park  itself,  will  greatly  accelerate  the  occupa- 
tion of  the  adjoining  land.  Only  twenty  3'ears  ago,  Union 
Square  was  "  out  of  town  ;"  twenty  years  hence,  the  town 
will  have  enclosed  the  Central  Park.  Let  us  consider, 
therefore,  what  will  at  that  time  be  satisfactory,  for  it  is 
then  that  the  design  will  have  to  be  really  judged.  ISTo 
longer  an  open  suburb,  our  ground  will  have  around  it  a 
continuous  high  wall  of  brick,  stone,  and  maible;  the 
adjoining  shores  will  be  lined  with  commercial  docks  and 
warehouses  ;  steamboat  and  ferry  landings,  railroad  stations, 
hotels,  theatres,  factories,  will  be  on  all  sides  of  it  and 
above  it :  all  of  which  our  park  must  be  made  to  lit. 

The  demolition  of  Columbia  College,  and  the  removal  of 
the  old  cloistral  elms  which  so  long  enshadowed  it ;  the 
pertinacious  demand  for  a  division  of  Trinity  Churchyard  ; 
the  numerous  instances  in  which  our  old  graveyards  have 
actually  been  broken  up  ;  the  indirect  concession  of  the 
most  important  space  in  the  City-Hall  Park  for  the  pur- 
poses of  a  thoroughfare,  and  the  further  contraction  it  is 
now  likely  to  suffer ;  together  with  the  constant  enormous 
expenditure  of  the  city,  and  sacrifices  of  the  citizens,  in  the 
straightening  and  widening  of  streets,  are  all  familiar  facts, 
and  teach  us  a  lesson  of  the  most  pressing  importance  in 
our  present  duty.  To  its  application  we  give  the  first 
place  in  our  planning. 

Our  instructions  call  for  four  transverse  roads.  Each  of 
these  will  be  the  single  line  of  communication  between  one 
side  of  the  town  and  the  other,  for  a  distance  equal  to  that 
between  Chambers  street  and  Canal  street.  If  we  suppose 
but  one  crossing  of  Broadway  to  be  possible  in  this  interval, 
we  shall  realize  what  these  transverse  roads  are  destined  to 
become.    Inevitably  they  will  be  crowded  thoroughfares, 


33 


having  nothing  in  common  with  the  park  proper,  but  every- 
thing at  variance  with  those  agreeable  sentiments  which  we 
should  wish  the  park  to  inspire.  It  will  not  be  possible  to 
enforce  the  ordinary  police  regulations  of  public  parks  upon 
them.  They  must  be  constantly  open  to  all  the  legitimate 
traffic  of  the  city,  to  coal  carts  and  butchers'  carts,  dust  carts 
and  dung  carts ;  engine  companies  will  use  them,  those  on  one 
side  the  park  rushing  their  machines  across  it,  with  frantic 
zeal  at  every  alarm  from  the  other;  ladies  and  invalids  will 
need  special  police  escort  for  crossing  them,  as  they  do  in 
lower  Broadway.  Eight  times  in  a  single  circuit  of  the  park 
will  they  oblige  a  pleasure  drive  or  stroll  to  encounter  a 
turbid  stream  of  coarse  traffic,  constantly  moving  at  right 
angles  to  the  line  of  the  park  itself. 

The  transverse  roads  will  also  have  to  be  kept  open,  while 
the  park  proper  will  be  useless  for  any  good  purpose  after 
dusk  ;  for  experience  has  shown  that  even  in  London,  with 
its  admirable  police  arrangements,  the  public  cannot  be 
secured  safe  transit  through  large  open  spaces  of  ground 
after  nightfall. 

These  public  thoroughfares  will  then  require  to  be  well 
lighted  at  the  sides;  and,  to  restrain  marauders  pursued  by 
the  police  from  escaping  into  the  obscurity  of  the  park,  Foreign  ex- 
strong  fences  or  walls,  six  or  eight  feet  high,  will  be  ample3, 
necessary.  One  such  street  passes  through  the  Regent's 
Park  of  London,  at  the  Zoological  Gardens.  It  has  the  ob- 
jection that  the  fence,  with  its  necessary  gates  at  every 
crossing  of  the  park  drives,  roads,  or  paths,  is  not  only 
a  great  inconvenience,  but  a  disagreeable  object  in  the 
landscape. 

To  avoid  a  similar  disfigurement,  an  important  street, 
crossing  the  garden  of  the  Tuileries,  is  closed  by  gates  at 
night,  forcing  all  vehicles  which  wTould  otherwise  use  it,  to 
go  a  long  distance  to  the  right  or  left. 

The  form  and  position  of  the  Central  Park  are  peculiar 
in  respect  to  this  difficulty,  and  such  that  precedent,  in 
dealing  with  it,  is  rather  to  be  sought  in  the  long  and 
narrow  Boulevards  of  some  of  the  old  Continental  cities  of 
Europe,  than  in  the  broad  parks  with  which,  from  its  area 
5 


iii  acres,  we  are  most  naturally  led  to  compare  it.  The 
Boulevards  referred  to  are,  however,  generally  used  only 
as  promenades — not  as  drives  or  places  of  ceremony.  In 
frequent  instances,  in  order  not  to  interrupt  the  alleys,  the 
streets  crossing  them  are  made  in  the  form  of  causeways, 
and  carried  over  on  high  arches.  This,  of  course,  prevents, 
all  landscape-gardening,  since  it  puts  an  abrupt  limit  to  the 
view.  Some  expedient  is  needed  for  the  Central  Park,  by 
which  the  convenience  of  the  arrangement  may  be  retained, 
while  the  objection  is  as  far  as  possible  avoided. 

In  the  plan  herewith  offered  to  the  Commission,  each  of 
the  transverse  roads  is  intended  to  be  sunk  so  far  below 
the  general  surface,  that  the  park  drives  may,  at  every 
necessary  point  of  intersection,  be  carried  entirely  over 
design,  it,  without  any  obvious  elevation  or  divergence  from  their 
most  attractive  routes.  The  banks  on  each  side  will 
be  walled  up  to  the  height  of  about  seven  feet,  thus 
forming  the  protective  barrier  required  by  police  consid- 
erations ;  and  a  little  judicious  planting  on  the  tops  or  slopes 
of  the  Jbanks  above  these  walls,  will  in  most  cases  entirely 
conceal  both  the  roads  and  the  vehicles  moving  in  them, 
from  the  view  of  those  walking  or  driving  in  the  park. 

If  the  position  which  has  just  been  taken  with  regard  to 
the  necessity  for  permanently  open  transverse  thorough- 
fares is  found  to  be  correct,  it  follows  necessarily  that  the 
700  acres  allowed  to  the  new  park  must,  in  the  first  instance, 
be  subdivided  [definitely,  although,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  to 
some  extent  invisibly,  into  five  separate  and  distinct  sec- 
tions, only  connnected  here  and  there  by  roads  crossing 
them ;  and  if  the  plan  of  making  these  thoroughfares  by 
sunken  roads  is  approved,  they  will,  as  it  appears  to  us  from 
the  nature  of  the  ground,  have  to  be  laid  down  somewhat 
on  the  lines  indicated  on  the  plan.  If  so,  the  problem  to  be 
solved  is  narrowed  in  its  dimensions,  and  the  efforts  of  the 
landscape  gardener  can  be  no  longer  directed  to  arranging 
a  design  that  shall  agreeably  use  up  the  space  of  700  acres 
allotted,  but  to  making  some  plan  that  shall  have  unity  of 
effect  as  a  whole,  and  yet  avoid  all  collision  in  its  detailed, 
features,  with  the  intersecting  lines  thus  suggested.  It  is  on 


35 


this  basis  that  the  present  plan  has,  in  the  first  instance, 
been  founded.  If  the  sunken  transverse  roads  were  omitted, 
the  design  would  not  be  less  complete  in  character ;  but  it 
is,  on  the  other  hand,  so  laid  out  that  the  transverse 
thoroughfares  do  not  interfere  materially  with  its  general 
or  detailed  effect. 

After  having  planned  the  park  drives  agreeably  to  these 
views,  we  observed  that  three  additional,  moderately  direct, 
transverse  roads  had  occurred.  These  will  afford  facilities  inverse 
for  crossing  the  park  to  all  vehicles  of  classes  which  it  will 
be  proper  to  admit  upon  them,  such  as  hackney  coaches 
and  all  private  carriages ;  and  thus  seven  transverse  roads 
will  be  really  provided  to  be  used,  during  daylight.  Four 
roads  will  probably  be  amply  adequate  for  the  night  traffic 
needing  to  cross  the  park  ;  but  it  must  be  questionable  if 
this  number  "would  be  sufficient  during  the  day. 

As  it  is  not  proposed  that  the  park  proper  shall  be  lighted 
at  night,  it  is  well  worth  while  to  consider  if  the  advantages  The  exterIor- 
which  it  offers  as  an  interesting  promenade,  may  not  yet  in 
some  way  be  obtained  at  night. 

The  ordinance  that  regulates  the  width  of  Fifth  avenue, 
allows  a  space  of  fifteen  feet  on  each  side,  exclusive  of  the  Fifth  avenue 
sidewalks  and  the  roadway  ;  consequently,  a  space  thirty 
feet  in  width,  for  promenade,  is  already  provided  on  this 
side  of  the  park  for  its  whole  length.    On  the  Eighth  BSJ  ££ 
avenue,  a  similar  arrangement  may  probably  be  effected,  roa(1* 
and  as  there  would  be  no  occasion  to  back  up  carts  against 
the  park  side  of  the  avenue,  it  is  feasible  to  carry  the  rail- 
way tracks  close  to  the  edge  of  the  promenade,  thus  leaving 
a  clear  space  for  carriages  on  the  building  side,  and  making 
the  access  to  the  park  side  more  clean  and  convenient. 

On  the  southern  boundary,  it  is  not  desirable  to  reduce 
the  already  moderate  width  of  the  carriage-way.  It  is,  on 
the  other  hand,  a  question  whether,  as  the  streets  and  the  Fifty -ninth 

P  and  One 

park  both,  m  reality,  are  the  property  or  one  owner — the  Hundred 
city — this  street  should  not  be  treated  in  a  similar  manner,  streets. 
It  will,  from  its  position,  be  in  time  rather  crowded  with 
traffic,  and  will,  therefore,  have  some  claim  to  be  widened 
on  this  ground  alone.    As  a  question  of  beauty  of  arrange- 
ment for  the  park  itself,  however,  it  is  conceived  that  if  by 


36 


this  management  a  more  stately  character  than  could  other- 
wise be  obtained  will  be  secured  to  the  outer  boundaries  of 
the  park,  it  will  be  cheaply  purchased  at  the  sacrifice  of  a 
few  feet  at  the  south  end,  off  its  present  length  of  two  and 
half  miles.  In  riding  along  any  of  the  avenues,  the  eye 
cannot  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  great  difference  in  dignity 
of  effect,  between  such  streets  as  Fourteenth  and  Twenty- 
Third,  and  those  intermediate  ;  and  it  would  be  a  matter  of 
regret,  that  the  source  of  effect  so  easily  obtained,  should 
be  lost  in  connection  with  the  grand  approaches  to  the  park, 
because  it  does  not  happen  that  its  boundaries  at  present 
coincide  with  the  wide  streets  laid  out  on  the  working  plan 
upon  which  the  city  is  being  constructed.  If,  moreover, 
the  advantage  of  the  evening  promenade  is  allowed  to  be 
of  importance,  we  should  be  sorry  to  dispense  with  this  sec- 
tion of  it,  which  would  be  the  only  portion  having  a  direct 
communication  from  the  Sixth  and  Seventh  avenues. 

For  the  purpose  of  concealing  the  houses  on  the  opposite 
side  cf  the  street,  from  the  park,  and  to  insure  an  umbra- 
geous horizon  line,  it  is  proposed,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  plan, 
■eatmentof*0  plant  a  line  of  trees  all  around  the  outer  edge  of  the  park, 
nSe?.dary  between  the  sidewalk  and  the  roadway.  On  approaching 
the  Fifth  and  Eighth  avenue  entrances,  this  line  of  trees 
along  Fifty-ninth  street  will  come  prominently  into  view, 
and  have  a  handsome  effect  if  the  street  is  widened  ;  but 
if  Fifty-ninth  street  is  allowed  to  remain  as  a  narrow  street, 
it  is  feared  that  it  will  be  difficult  to  prevent  this  boundary 
line  of  the  park  from  having  a  contracted  and  somewhat 
mean  appearance.  Hence,  we  have  thought  it  proper,  in 
our  plan,  to  assume  the  advantage  and  practicability  of  this 
arrangement  to  be  conceded  ;  but,  if  this  should  not  be  the 
case,  it  will  be  readily  perceived  that  it  forms  no  essential 
part  of  our  design. 

On  the  space  originally  provided  for  a  sidewalk  on  the 
park  side  of  the  streets  and  avenues,  there  will,  in  any 
case,  be  room  for  such  a  line  of  trees  as  we  have  proposed. 
The  continuous  exterior  mall  should  by  no  means  be  given 
up,  even  though  it  cannot  be  made  in  all  parts  as  wide  a3 
we  have  proposed.  At  many  points,  and  frequently  for 
quite  long  distances,  it  will  form  an  elevaafed  terrace,  com- 


37 

commanding  extensive  views  over  the  park,  of  the  most  in- 
teresting character  ;  and  a  mere  parapet-wall  three  or  four 
feet  high,  will,  in  such  cases,  be  all-sufficient  for  the  safety 
of  promeuaders  and  the  protection  of  the  park  from  inter- 
lopers. 

The  handsomest  approach  from  the  city  is  certain  to  be 
alone;  the  Fifth  avenue,  and  it  has  been  thought  necessary 

&  P  n  Fifth  avenue 

to  view  with  special  care  the  angle  of  the  park  first  reached  entrance, 
from  this  direction,  because  it  will  be  generally  felt  that 
immediate  entrance  should  be  had  at  this  point. 

The  grade  of  the  avenue  has  been  established  so  high, 
that  considerable  filling-in  would  be  required  to  avoid  a 
rapid  descent ;  but  directly  this  single  difficulty  is  over- 
come, the  ground  beyond  has  great  advantages  for  the  pur- 
pose of  a  dignified  entrance  to  the  park.  A  massive  rock, 
that  will  be  in  connection  with  this  requisite  made  ground, 
offers  a  sufficiently  large  natural  feature  to  occupy  the 
attention,  and  will  at  once  reduce  the  artificial  character 
to  a  position  of  minor  importance.  If  next,  we  stand  upon 
that  portion  of  the  rock  which  (a  little  north  of  the  large 
cherry-tree)  is  at  grade-height,  we  find  that  there  is  another 
rocky  hillock  within  a  short  distance,  in  the  direction  a 
visitor  to  the  park  would  most  naturally  pursue — that  is  to 
say,  towards  the  centre  of  the  park.  This  can  be  easily 
reached  by  slightly  raising  the  intermediate  ground ;  by 
then  sweeping  to  the  right,  the  natural  conformation  of  the 
surface  offers  an  easy  ascent  (by  the  existing  cart-way  over 
Sixty-third  street)  to  a  plateau  (two  rods  west  of  the 
powder-house),  directly  connected  with  the  extensive  table- 
land which  occupies  the  centre  of  the  lower  half  of  the 
park. 

From  this  plateau  (now  occupied  mainly  by  the  nursery) 
a  view  is  had  of  nearly  all  the  park  up  to  the  Reservoir, 
in  a  northerly  direction  ;  and  on  looking  to  the  south  and 
west,  we  perceive  that  there  are  natural  approaches  from 
these  directions,  which  suggest  that  we  have  arrived  at  a 
suitable  point  of  concentration  for  all  approaches  which 
may  be  made  from  the  lower  part  of  the  city  to  the  interior 
of  the  park. 

Yista  Rock,  the  most  prominent  point  in  the  landscape 


38 


of  the  lower  park,  here  first  comes  distinctly  into  view, 
and  fortunately  in  a  direction  diagonal  to  the  boundary 
lines,  from  which  it  is  desirable  to  withdraw  attention  in 
every  possible  way.  A7e  therefore  accept  this  line  of  view 
as  affording  an  all-sufficient  motive  to  our  further  proce- 
dure. Although  averse,  on  general  principles,  to  a  sym- 
metrical arrangement  of  trees,  we  consider  it  an  essential 
feature  of  a  metropolitan  park,  that  it  should  contain  a 
grand  promenade,  level,  spacious,  and  thoroughly  shaded. 
This  result  can  in  no  other  way  be  so  completely  arrived  at 
as  by  an  avenue  ;  which,  in  itself,  even  exclusive  of  its 
adaptability  for  this  purpose,  contains  so  many  elements  of 
grandeur  and  magnificence,  that  it  should  be  recognized  as 
an  essential  feature  in  the  arrangement  of  any  large  park. 

The  objection  to  which  it  is  liable  is,  that  it  divides  the 
landscape  into  two  parts,  and  it  is  therefore  desirable  to  de- 
cide at  what  point  this  necessity  can  be  submitted  to  with  the 
least  sacrifice  to  the  general  effect.  The  whole  topographical 
character  of  the  park  is  so  varied,  so  suggestive  of  natural 
treatment,  so  picturesque,  so  individual  in  its  character- 
istics, that  it  would  be  contrary  to  common  sense  to  make 
the  avenue  its  leading  feature,  or  to  occupy  any  great  extent 
of  ground  for  this  special  purpose.  It  must  be  subservient 
to  the  general  design,  if  that  general  design  is  to  be  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  present  configuration  of  the  ground,  and 
we  have  therefore  thought  that  it  should,  so  far  as  possible, 
be  complete  in  itself,  and  not  become  a  portion  of  any  of 
the  leading  drives.  There  is  no  dignity  of  effect  to  be  pro- 
duced by  driving  through  an  avenue  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
long,  unless  it  leads  to  and  becomes  an  accessory  of  some 
grand  architectural  structure,  which  itself,  and  not  the 
avenue,  is  the  ultimatum  of  interest.  An  avenue  for  driv- 
ing in  should  be  two  or  three  miles  long,  or  it  will  be  petite 
and  disappointing.  "We  have  therefore  thought  it  most  de- 
sirable to  identify  the  idea  of  the  avenue  with  the  promen- 
ade, for  which  purpose  a  quarter  of  a  mile  is  not  insuffi- 
cient, and  we  can  find  no  better  place  for  such  a  grand 
mall  or  open  air  hall  of  reception,  as  we  desire  to  have, 
than  the  ground  before  us. 


39 


In  giving  it  this  prominent  position,  we  look  at  it  in  the 
light  of  an  artificial  structure  on  a  scale  of  magnitude  com- 
mensurate with  the  size  of  the  park,  and  intend  in  our  de-  muie. 
sign  that  it  should  occupy  the  same  position  of  relative 
importance  in  the  general  arrangement  of  the  plan,  that  a 
mansion  should  occupy  in  a  park  prepared  for  private  oc- 
cupation. The  importance  that  is  justly  connected  with 
the  idea  of  the  residence  of  the  owner  in  even  the  most 
extensive  private  grounds,  finds  no  parallel  in  a  public 
park,  however  small,  and  we  feel  that  the  interest  of  the 
visitor,  who,  in  the  best  sense,  is  the  true  owner,  in  the  lat- 
ter case,  should  concentrate  on  features  of  natural,  in  pref- 
erence to  artificial  beauty.  Many  elegant  buildings  may 
be  appropriately  erected  for  desirable  purposes  in  a  public 
park;  but  we  conceive  that  all  such  architectural  structures 
should  be  confessedly  subservient  to  the  main  idea,  and  that 
nothing  artificial  should  be  obtruded  on  the  view  as  an  ul- 
timatum of  interest.  The  idea  of  the  park  itself  should 
always  be  uppermost  in  the  mind  of  the  beholder.  Holding 
this  general  principle  to  be  of  considerable  importance,  we 
have  preferred  to  place  the  avenue  where  it  can  be  termi- 
nated appropriately  at  one  end  with  a  landscape  attraction 
of  considerable  extent,  and  to  relieve  the  south  entrance 
with  only  so  much  architectural  treatment  as  may  give  the 
idea  that  due  regard  has  been  paid  to  the  adornment  of 
this  principal  promenade,  without  interfering  with  its  real 
character. 

This  avenue  may  be  considered  the  central  feature  in  our 
plan  for  laying  out  the  lower  park,  and  the  other  details  of 
arrangement  are  more  or  less  designed  in  connection  with 
it. 

To  the  west  is  the  parade  ground,  containing  about 
twenty-live  acres,  that  may,  at  a  moderate  expense,  be 
levelled  and  made  suitable  for  its  purpose  ;  and  also  some  Parade 

,  ground. 

eight  or  ten  acres  of  broken  ground,  that  will  be  more  or 
less  available  for  military  exercises.  Such  a  broad  open 
plane  of  well  kept  grass  would  be  a  refreshing  and  agree- 
able feature  in  the  general  design,  and  would  bear  to  be  of 
much  greater  extent  than  is  here  shown,  if  the  lot  were  of 


40 


a  different  shape ;  but,  under  the  circumstances,  twenty 
five  acres  seems  as  much  as  can  well  be  spared  for  the  pur- 
pose. A  military  entrance  from  Eighth  avenue  is  proposed 
to  be  made  at  Sixty-ninth  street,  which  has  been  already, 
at  considerable  expense,  cut  through  the  rock  at  this  point, 
and  offers  a  suggestion  for  a  picturesque  approach,  with  a 
portcullis  gate,  and  with  the  main  park  drive  carried  over 
it  at  a  higher  level. 

The  natural  southern  boundary  of  the  table-land,  occupied 
bv  the  parade  ground,  is  a  rapid  slope,  that  occurs  about  in 

Playground.     ,      . .  «  ^  •  .     i  .  I 

the  line  of  Sixty-sixth  street ;  in  this  slope  it  is  proposed  to 
sink  one  of  the  transverse  roads  ;  and  on  a  level  plane  be- 
low it,  stretching  to  the  south,  a  play-ground,  about  10 
acres  in  extent,  is  located,  as  indicated  on  the  plan.  "We 
have  thought  it  very  desirable  to  have  a  cricket  ground 
of  this  size  near  the  southern  boundary  of  the  Park,  and 
not  far  from  the  Sixth  and  Eighth  Avenue  Railroads,  which 
offer  the  most  rapid  means  of  access  from  the  lower  part  of 
the  city. 

In  this  playground  sites  are  suggested  for  two  buildings 
of  moderate  dimensions  ;  one  for  visitors  to  view  the  games, 
which  would  be  appropriately  located  on  a  large  rock  that 
overlooks  the  ground  ;  and  the  other  for  the  players,  at  the 
entrance  from  the  transverse  road,  by  which  an  exit  could 
be  obtained  from  the  playground  after  the  other  gates 
were  closed.  Only  one  mass  of  rock  of  any  considerable 
magnitude  would  require  to  be  blasted  out  for  the  purpose 
of  adapting  this  ground  to  its  intended  purpose;  its  posi- 
tion is  indicated  on  the  plan  by  a  red  cross,  and  the  object 
of  its  removal  will  be  seen  on  examination.  This  part  of 
the  design  is  illustrated  in  study  JS"o.  2.  The  ground  at  the 
southwest  corner  of  the  park  it  is  proposed  to  fill  in,  suffi- 
ciently to  make,  on  the  plan  indicated,  an  agreeable  Eighth 
avenue  entrance. 

To  the  southeast  of  the  promenade,  and  between  the 
Fifth  and  Sixth  avenue  entrances,  it  is  proposed  to  form  a 
Thiake?wer  lake  of  irregular  shape,  and  with  an  area  of  eight  or  nine 
acres.  This  arrangement  has  been  suggested  by  the  pres- 
ent nature  of  the  ground,  which  is  low,  and  somewhat 


41 


swampy.  It  is  concieved  that,  by  introducing  such  an  or- 
namental sheet  of  water  into  the  composition  at  this  point, 
the  picturesque  effect  of  the  hold  bluffs  that  will  run  down 
to  its  edge  and  overhang  it,  must  be  much  increased  ;  and 
that  by  means  of  such  a  natural  boundary,  this  rocky  section 
of  the  park  will  be  rendered  more  retired  and  attractiye  as  a 
pleasant  walk  or  lounge.  The  proposed  effect  of  this  part 
of  the  design,  as  it  will  appear  from  the  Fifth  avenue  en- 
trance, is  indicated  on  study  ]S~o.  1. 

To  the  southeast  of  the  promenade  will  be  found  that 
portion  of  the  park  in  which  the  present  Arsenal  is  situated. 
This  ground  is  undulating  and  agreeable  in  its  character, 
and  will  offer  pleasant  opportunities  for  shady  walks.  The 
Arsenal  itself,  although  at  present  a  very  unattractive 
structure,  and  only  tolerably  built,  contains  a  great  deal  of 
room,  in  a  form  that  adapts  it  very  well  to  the  purposes  of 
a  museum.  It  is  proposed,  therefore,  to  improve  its  exter- 
nal appearance,  so  far  as  may  be  necessary,  without  chang- 
ing its  shape  or  usefulness,  or  going  to  any  great  expense ; 
and  as  it  occurs  rather  near  the  Fifth  avenue  entrance,  and  is, 
therefore,  likely  to  occupy  too  considerable  a  share  of  atten- 
riori,  if  left  exposed  to  view  from  the  south,  it  is  intended, 
as  early  as  possible,  to  plant  in  its  vicinity  forest-trees,  cal- 
culated to  become  handsome  specimens  of  large  size,  and 
that  will,  after  a  few  years,  prevent  the  museum  from  at- 
tracting an  undue  share  of  attention  in  the  general  land- 
scape. 

To  the  east  of  the  promenade,  there  will  be  a  half  mile 
stretch  of  lawn  and  trees  extending  from  the  vicinity  of 
Fifty-ninth  street  to  Seventy-second  street,  and  this  will  be s 
the  dress  ground  of  the  park ;  and  in  a  prominent  position 
on  this  ground,  and  immediately  connected  with  the  grand 
mall,  the  site  for  a  music  hall,  called  for  in  our  instructions, 
has  been  set  apart :  and  we  have  suggested  that  a  palm- 
house  and  large  conservatory  should  be  added  to  this  music 
hall  whenever  it  is  built. 

This  site  is  recommended  because  it  is  conspicuous, 
without  being  obtrusive,  and  is  easy  of  access  from  the  pro- 
menade and  from  one  of  the  leading  avenue  entrances  ; 
6 


42 


while,  to  the  north,  it  commands  from  its  terraces  and  ve- 
randas the  finest  views  that  are  to  be  obtained  in  the  lower 
part  of  the  park.  It  also  overlooks  the  site  which  we  have 
selected  as  most  appropriate  for  the  flower-garden,  called 
for  in  our  instructions  ;  and  this  we  consider  a  decided  ad- 
vantage, as  the  most  attractive  view  of  a  flower-garden  is 
from  some  point  above  it,  that  will  enable  the  visitor  to 
take  in  at  a  glance  a  general  idea  of  the  effect  aimed  at. 

The  garden  is  located  in  low  ground  to  the  northeast  of 
the  promenade,  and  is  designed  close  to  Fifth  avenue,  the 
Garden,  grade  of  which,  at  the  centre  line  of  the  garden,  is  about 
twenty  feet  above  the  present  level  of  the  ground  ;  this,  for 
the  reasons  above  stated,  we  consider  a  desideratum,  and 
have  suggested  that  over  the  arcade  or  veranda  that  we 
propose  should  be  built  against  the  east  wall  of  the  park,  in 
connection  with  the  garden,  a  structure  should  be  erected, 
with  an  entrance  on  a  level  with  the  avenue,  so  as  to  give 
an  opportunity  for  a  view  of  the  garden,  both  from  this 
level  and  from  another  story  above  it.  This  idea  is  not,  of 
course,  necessary  to  the  design,  and  the  sketch  submitted 
is  merely  a  suggestion,  to  show  what  may  be  done  at  some 
future  time. 

The  plan  of  the  flower  garden  itself  is  geometrical ;  and 
it  is  surrounded  by  an  irregular  and  less  formal  plantation 
of  shrubs,  that  will  serve  to  connect  it  with  the  park  proper. 
In  the  centre  it  is  proposed  to  construct  a  large  basin  for  a 
fountain,  with  a  high  jet;  other  smaller  jets  are  prepared 
for,  as  indicated  ;  and,  in  connection  with  the  north  wall, 
which  will  be  somewhat  below  the  surface  of  the  ground 
beyond,  it  is  proposed  to  arrange  some  such  wall  fountain  as 
the  celebrated  one  of  Trevi.  The  water  for  this  fountain 
will,  in  the  present  case,  be  supplied  from  the  overflow  from 
the  skating  pond,  and  also  from  the  reservoir,  and  will  fall 
into  a  semi-circular  marble  basin,  with  a  paved  floor.  Such 
a  fountain  is  out  of  place  unless  it  can  be  furnished  with  an 
ample  supply  of  water;  but,  in  the  position  assigned  to  it 
on  our  plan,  there  will  be  no  difficulty  in  procuring  all  the 
water  that  can  be  required  for  the  purpose  ;  and  it  seems 
desirable,  therefore,  to  take  advantage  of  the  opportunity 


43 


offered,  for  the  effect  of  a  sculptured  fountain  of  this  sort  is 
quite  distinct  from  that  produced  by  a  jet  d'eau. 

A  colored  plan  of  this  part  of  the  design  is  illustrated  to 
an  enlarged  scale  on  study  No.  11. 

To  the  northwest  of  the  promenade  is  a  slope,  offering  an 
appropriate  site  for  a  summer-house,  that  in  such  a  situation 
should  have  some  architectural  pretension  ;  and  further  to 
the  west,  near  Eighth  avenue,  is  a  stretch  of  table-land,  ter- 
minated by  an  abrupt  rocky  descent,  that  suggests  itself  as 
well  suited  for  a  Casino  or  refreshment  house. 

From  the  upper  end  of  the  promenade  the  rocky  hill-side 
to  the  north,  surmounted  by  YistaRock  at  its  highest  point, 
comes  into  full  view  ;  and  on  this  rock  it  will  be  generally 
conceded  a  tower  should  be  erected — but  by  no  means  a 
large  one,  or  the  whole  scale  of  the  view  will  be  destroyed. 
To  the  north  and  northwest  of  the  promenade,  a  tract  of 
low  ground  is  proposed  to  be  converted  into  the  skating 
pond  called  for  in  our  instructions;  and  the  picturesque 
scenery  between  Vista  Rock  and  the  promenade  will  thus 
be  heightened  in  effect,  when  seen  from  the  south  side  of 
this  lake,  of  about  fourteen  acres.  A  terrace  approach,  as 
shown  on  the  plan,  and  on  study  No.  3,  is  proposed,  from 
the  avenue  to  the  water.  This  feature,  although  by  no 
means  absolutely  necessary,  would  add  much  to  the  general 
effect,  and  could  be  introduced  at  any  future  time,  if  it  is 
preferred  at  present  to  treat  the  ground  occupied  by  it  in  a 
less  artificial  style. 

Immediately  in  the  vicinity  of  Yista  Rock  is  the  south 
wall  of  the  present  reservoir.  This  wall  occupies  the  whole 
of  the  middle  of  the  park,  and  is  a  blank,  uninteresting  ob- 
ject, that  can  in  no  way  be  made  particularly  attractive. 
We  have,  therefore,  thought  it  necessary  to  bear  this  in 
mind  in  arranging  the  general  plan,  and  have  given  a 
direction  to  the  lines  of  drive  leading  this  way  from  the 
lower  part  of  the  park,  that  will  enable  them  to  avoid  the 
wall  of  the  reservoir  altogether.  The  necessity  for  doing 
this  has  induced  us  to  commence  diverting  the  lines  of  drive 
at  the  south  end  of  the  grand  promenade,  which  seems  to 
offer  a  sufficient  reason  for  so  doing,  and  to  lead  them  after- 


wards  on  their  northerly  course  in  such  a  way  that  they 
may  pass  naturally  to  the  east  and  west  of  the  reservoir. 
If  any  drive  proceeded  in  the  direction  of  the  Hue  of  ave- 
nue, and  at  once  crossed  the  ground  proposed  to  be  occupied 
by  the  lake,  the  reservoir  would  inevitably  become  the  ter- 
minal feature  of  the  lower  part  of  the  park,  and  this  would 
be  disagreeable.  The  skating  pond  will  offer  a  sufficiently 
natural  barrier  to  this  direct  mode  of  proceeding,  and  will 
furnish  a  reason  for  locating  the  promenade  in  its  proposed 
position,  and  also  for  terminating  it  where  suggested;  and 
by  carrying  a  road  along  the  edge  of  the  water,  an  oppor- 
tunity will  be  given  to  lengthen  out  the  drive  commanding 
the  principal  views  in  this  vicinity ;  the  hike  will  also  help 
to  give  a  retired  and  agreeable  character  to  the  hill-side 
beyond,  which  is  well  adapted  for  picnic  parties  and  pleas- 
ant strolls.  Even  if  the  reservoir  did  not  occur  in  its  pres- 
ent position,  the  conformation  of  the  ground  is  such  that  the 
roads  would  naturally  take,  to  a  considerable  extent,  tlfe 
direction  indicated,  leaving  the  centre  of  the  park  undivided 
by  a  drive. 

The  management  of  the  ground  between  the  skating  pond 
and  Yista  Rock  appears  to  be  indicated  by  its  form  and  the 
character  of  its  present  growth.  It  is  well  sheltered,  and 
large  masses  of  rock  occur  at  intervals.  The  soil  is  moist, 
and  altogether  remarkably  well  adapted  to  what  is  called  in 
Europe  an  American  garden — that  i?,  a.  ground  for  the 
special  cultivation  of  hardy  plants  of  the  natural  order 
Ericac?ei,  consisting  of  rhododendrons,  andromedas,  azaleas, 
kalmias,  rhodora,  &e.  The  present  growth,  consisting  of 
sweet  gum,  spice-bush,  tulip  tiee,  sassafras,  red  maple, 
black  oak,  azalea,  andromeda,  &c  ,  is  exceedingly  intricate 
and  interesting.  The  ground  is  at  present  too  much  encum- 
bered with  stone,  and  with  various  indifferent  plants.  By 
clearing  these  away,  and  carefully  leaving  what  is  valuable 
— by  making  suitable  paths,  planting  abundantly,  as  above 
suggested,  and  introducing  fastigiate  shrubs  and  evergreens 
occasionally,  to  prevent  a  monotony  of  bushes — the  place 
may  be.  made  very  charming.  Where  the  hill-side  ap- 
proaches the  lake,  sufficient  openings  are  proposed  to  be 


45 


left  for  occasional  glimpses,  or  more  open  views,  of  the 
water;  and  glades  of  fine  turf  are  intended  to  occur  at  fa- 
vorable intervals,  so  as  to  offer  pleasant  spots  for  rest  and 
recreation. 

To  the  east  and  southeast  of  the  present  reservoir,  the 
general  conformation  of  the  surface  continues  to  be  of  the 

t  n  riaygroum 

same  easy,  undulating  character  as  that  to  the  east  or  the 
promenade,  and  can  be  treated  in  a  similar  manner.  The 
whole  space  is  intended  to  be  occupied  with  stretches  of 
well-kept  turf,  with  line  groups  and  single  trees,  so  planted 
that  they  may  appear  to  advantage,  and  not  crowd  each 
other.  That  portion  which  is  immediately  east  of  the  re- 
servoir, is  set  apart  for  one  of  the  playgrounds  ;  and  in  the 
strip  of  land  between  the  main  drive  and  the  reservoir  wall, 
a  reserved  garden  is  provided  for,  with  gardener's  house 
attached ;  this  will  be  needed  in  connection  with  the 
flower  garden  already  described.  On  the  west  side  of  the 
reservoir,  the  ground  is  of  an  irregular  character,  which 
continues  past  the  old  and  new  reservoirs  to  the  upper  end 
of  the  site.  The  spaces  remaining  for  park  use  will,  how- 
ever, be  so  much  contracted  by  the  reservoir  walls  and 
embankments,  that  extended  landscape  effects  are  out  of 
the  question.  It  is  intended,  therefore,  as  the  soil  and  situ- 
ation are  adapted  to  the  purpose,  to  arrange  in  this  locality 
a  winter  drive  about  a  mile  and  a  half  in  length,  and  to 
plant  somewhat  thickly  with  evergreens,  introducing  de- 
ciduous trees  and  shrubs  occasionally,  to  relieve  the  monot- Wmterdnv 
ony  of  effect  that  might  otherwise  occur.  Large  open 
glades  of  grass  are  introduced  among  these  plantations  of 
evergreens,  as  the  effect  aimed  at,  is  not  so  much  that  of  a 
drive  through  a  thick  forest,  crowded  with  tall  spindling 
trees,  as  through  a  richly  wooded  country,  in  which  the 
single  trees  and  copsss  have  had  plenty  of  space  for  develop- 
ing their  distinctive  characteristics  to  advantage.  Imme- 
diately  south  and  west  of  the  present  reservoir,  terraces Berceau 
have  been  already  formed,  and  these  can  readily  be  con-  walks* 
verted  into  continuous  arbors,  or  berceau  walks.  Access 
will  thus  be  provided  to  all  the  gates  of  the  reservoir,  and 
the  wall  will  itself  be  planted  out.    The  effect  of  these 


46 


closely-shaded  walks  will  also,  it  is  conceived,  offer  an 
agreeable  contrast  to  the  views  obtainable  from  Vista  Rock, 
in  the  immediate  vicinity.  In  the  northern  section  of  this 
locality,  and  in  connection  with  one  of  the  transverse  roads, 
will  be  found  the  house  of  the  Superintendent,  the  office  of 
the  Commission,  the  police  station,  and  other  necessary 

Police  .  J 

station.  buildings,  such  as  stables,  <kc.  The  site  is  not  far  from  the 
one  at  present  occupied  by  the  police,  and  is  thought  to 
be  well  suited  for  its  purpose.  By  making  a  private  en- 
trance along  the  wall  of  the  reservoir,  the  whole  establish- 
ment can  be  immediately  connected,  by  means  of  the 
transverse  road,  with  the  city  streets,  and  at  the  same  time 
be  central  and  elevated,  without  being  unpleasantly  prom- 
inent. It  is  proposed,  as  will  be  seen  on  the  plan,  to  make 
short  connections  from  the  park  roads  to  the  transverse 
thoroughfare  north  of  the  present  reservoir,  so  as  to  admit 
of  visitors  shortening  the  drive  in  this  way  if  preferred. 

The  new  reservoir,  with  its  high  banks,  will  take  up  a 
great  deal  of  room  in  the  park,  and  although  it  will  offer  a 

Reservoir  large  sheet  of  water  to  the  view,  it  will  be  at  too  high  a 
ride-  level  to  become  a  landscape  attraction  from  the  ordinary 
drives  and  walks.  It  is  suggested,  therefore,  that  all  round 
it  a  ride  shall  be  constructed,  and  carefully  prepared  for 
this  purpose  only ;  and  although  this  feature  may  be  some- 
what costly  in  the  first  instance,  it  is  conceived  that  the 
result  would  be  worth  the  outlay,  for  the  sake  of  its  advan- 
tages as  a  ride  over  a  mile  and  a  half  in  length,  command- 
ing the  view  of  the  reservoir,  and  uninterfered  with  by  the 
regular  drives,  although  in  connection  with  them  at  differ- 
ent points. 

On  the  east  of  the  new  reservoir,  the  park  is  diminished 
to  a  mere  passage-way  for  connection,  and  it  will  be  diffi- 
cult to  obtain  an  agreeable  effect  in  this  part  of  the  design, 
unless  some  architectural  character  is  given  to  it.  It  is  not 
recommended,  however,  to  attempt  any  such  effect  imme- 
diately, or  out  of  the  funds  of  the  Commission,  but  to  ac- 
cept the  high  bank  of  the  reservoir  as  a  barrier  to  the  west, 
for  a  few  years  ;  because  it  is  thought  that  as  soon  as  this 
part  of  the  city  is  built  up  to  any  considerable  extent,  it  will 


47 

not  be  difficult  to  obtain  an  enriched  architectural  effect, 
appropriate  to  the  purpose,  without  expense  to  the  Commis- 
sion. An  arcade,  100  feet  deep,  could  be  substantially 
built,  and  the  drive  could  be  carried  above  this  arcade,  on 
a  level  with  the  reservoir,  and  overlooking  Fifth  avenue, 
the  remainder  of  the  ground  being  filled  in  ;  and  it  is 
thought  that  as  this  arcade  may  be  lighted  from  the  rear, 
and  will  face  a  fashionable  thoroughfare,  it  will  offer  at  no 
distant  period,  very  valuable  lots  for  stores,  or  other  pur- 
poses ;  and  as  it  is  a  third  of  a  mile  in  extent,  it  may  be  a 
source  of  revenue,  in  rent,  to  the  park  fund,  instead  of  a 
burden  on  it. 

The  northwesterly  portion  of  the  park,  above  the  new 
reservoir,  is  planned  very  simply,  in  accordance  with  what  Tower  on 
we  conceive  to  be  the  suggestion  of  the  ground.  The  ever-  mii.aidua 
green  drive  is  continued  nearly  to  the  foot  of  Bogardus 
Hill,  and  then,  somewhat  changing  its  character,  turns  to 
the  east.  At  this  point  a  branch  road  crosses  a  brook,  that 
is  made  to  expand  into  a  pool  a  little  below  the  bridge ; 
and  this  road  then  winds  gradually  to  the  top  of  the  hill, 
which  offers  an  available  site  for  some  monument  of  public 
importance,  that  may  also  be  used  as  an  observatory  tower. 
If,  as  is  not  improbable,  the  trans-atl  antic  telegraph  is 
brought  to  a  favorable  issue,  while  the  park  is  in  an  early 
stage  of  construction,  many  reasons  could,  we  think,  be 
urged  for  commemorating  the  event  by  some  such  monu- 
ment as  the  one  suggested,  on  the  plan,  and  in  study  !Nb. 
0.  The  picturesque  effect  of  a  spring  of  clear  water,  that 
already  exists  in  this  vicinity,  may  be  heightened,  as  sug- 
gested in  study  ISTo.  10. 

The  central  portion  of  the  upper  section  of  the  park  is 
left  as  open  as  possible,  and  can  be  levelled  so  far  as  may 
required  for  the  purposes  of  the  playgrounds  indicated  on 
the  plan,  and  on  study  Xo.  7.  At  present,  it  is  hardly 
thought  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  make  the  Sixth 
avenue  entrance  to  the  north,  but  its  position  is  indicated. 

The  northeast  section  of  the  upper  park  is  shown  as  an 
arboretum  of  American  trees,  so  that  every  one  who  wishes 
to  do  so  may  become  acquainted  with  the  trees  and  shrubs 


48 


that  will  flourish  in  the  open  air  in  the  northern  and  middle 
sections  of  our  country. 

This  arboretum  is  not  intended  to  be  formally  arranged, 
bat  to  be  so  planned  that  it  may  present  all  the  most  beau- 
tum?  °re*  tiful  features  of  lawn  and  woodland  landscape,  and  at  the 
same  time  preserve  the  natural  order  of  families,  so  far  as 
practicable.  The  botanical  student  will  thus  be  able  to  find 
any  tree  or  shrub  without  difficulty.  We  have  selected  this 
tract,  of  about  forty  acres,  in  the  upper  angle  of  the  site, 
so  as  to  interfere  with  the  more  special  requirements  of  the 
park  as  little  as  possible.  The  spot  chosen  is  in  some 
measure  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  grounds,  by  a  ridge 
of  land  between  Fifth  and  Sixth  avenues,  and  includes  the 
buildings  on  Mount  St.  Vincent.  The  wooden  structures 
would  be  removed,  and  the  brick  chapel  converted  into  a 
museum  and  library  of  botany,  similar  to  that  at  Kew,  but 
with  more  specific  regard  to  landscape  and  decorative 
gardening.  In  the#park  itself  there  will  be  numerous 
specimens  of  all  the  trees,  native  or  foreign,  that  are  likely 
to  thrive  ;  but  it  is  proposed  to  limit  this  particular  collec- 
tion to  American  trees,  because  the  space  necessary  for  a 
complete  arboretum  would  occupy  several  hundred  acres, 
and  also  because  it  will  afford  an  opportunity  to  show  the 
great  advantage  that  America  possesses  in  this  respect.  !No 
other  extra-tropical  country  could  furnish  one-quarter  the- 
material  for  such  a  collection.  In  the  whole  of  Great 
Britain,  for  example,  there  are  less  than  twenty  trees, 
native  to  the  island,  that  grow  to  be  30  feet  in  height ; 
while  in  America  we  have  from  five  to  six  times  that 
number.  There  are,  indeed,  already  forty  species  of  the 
largest  native  trees  standing  in  the  park,  which  is  nearly 
equivalent  to  the  number  to  be  found  in  all  Europe. 

It  is  proposed  to  plant  from  one  to  three  examples  of  each 
species  of  tree  on  open  lawn,  and  with  sufficient  space 
about  each  to  allow  it  to  attain  its  fullest  size  with  unre- 
stricted expanse  of  branches  ;  the  effect  of  each  tree  is  also 
to  be  exhibited  in  masses,  so  as  to  illustrate  its  qualities  for 
grouping.  Space  is  provided  to  admit  of  at  least  three 
specimens  of  every  native  tree  which  is  known  to  flourish 


49 


in  the  United  States,  north  of  North  Carolina;  also  for 
several  specimens  of  every  shrub  ;  these  latter,  however, 
except  in  particular  instances,  are  not  expected  to  be 
planted  singly,  hut  in  thickets,  and  as  underwood  to  the 
coppice  masses — as  may  best  accord  with  their  natural 
habits,  and  be  most  agreeable  to  the  eye.  Further  details 
of  this  part  of  the  design  will  be  found  in  the  explanatory 
guide  to  the  aiboretum,  submitted  with  the  plan,  in  which 
the  proposed  airangement  of  all  the  trees  is  set  forth  in 
order. 

The  leading  features  of  the  plan  have  now,  it  is  thought, 
been  referred  to.  It  has  not  been  considered  necessary 
to  especially  particularize  the  different  trees  proposed  to  be 
used  in  the  various  parts  of  the  park.  For  the  purposes  of 
the  avenue,  the' American  elm  naturally  suggests  itself  at 
once  as  the  tree  to  be  used ;  and  it  is  hoped  that  the  fine 
effect  this  produces,  when  planted  in  regular  lines,  may  in 
a  few  years  be  realized  in  the  Central  Park. 

There  is  no  other  part  of  the  plan  in  which  the  planting 
calls  for  particular  mention,  except  to  the  south  of  the 
skating  pond  ;  an  opportunity  is  there  offered  for  an  exhibi- 
tion of  semi-tropical  trees,  and  it  is  intended  to  treat  that 
portion  of  the  park  in  the  manner  suggested  in  study  No. 

A  list  of  the  trees  to  be  used  is  appended  to  the 
explanation  of  the  arboretum. 

The  plan  does  not  show  any  brooks,  except  a  small  one 
in  connection  with  the  pool  at  the  foot  of  Bogardus  Hill, 
which  can  always  be  kept  full  by  the  waste  water  from  the 
New  Reservoir.  Mere  rivulets  are  uninteresting,  and  we 
have  preferred  to  collect  the  ornamental  water  in  large 
sheets,  and  to  carry  off  through  underground  drains  the 
water  that  at  present  runs  through  the  park  in  shallow 
brooks. 

As  a  general  rule,  we  propose  to  run  footpaths  close  to 
the  carriage  roads,  which  are  intended  to  be  60  feet  wide, 
allowing  a  space  of  four  feet  of  turf  as  a  barrier  between 
the  drive  and  the  path.  Other  more  private  footpaths  are 
introduced,  but  it  is  hardly  thought  that  any  plan  would  be 
popular  in  New  York,  that  did  not  allow  of  a  continuous 
7 


50 


promenade  along  the  line  of  the  drives,  so  that  pedestrians 
may  have  ample  opportunity  to  look  at  the  equipages  and 
their  inmates. 

It  will  be  perceived  that  no  long  straight  drive  has  been 
provided  on  the  plan  ;  this  feature  has  been  studiously 
avoided,  because  it  would  offer  opportunities  for  trotting 
matches.  The  popular  idea  of  the  park  is  a  beautiful  open 
green  space,  in  which  quiet  drives,  rides,  and  strolls  may 
be  had.  This  cannot  be  preserved  if  a  race-cour3e,  or  a 
road  that  can  readily  be  used  as  a  race-course,  is  made  one 
of  its  leading  attractions. 


I 


